Forward thinking needed to fix Wales shortcomings

WHAT was uppermost in my mind at the final whistle of Saturday's defeat was that whoever thought it was a good idea to have arranged this game outside of the international window should have been made to play in it.

- Graham Price

Wales struggled in the scrum against South Africa

(Laszlo Geczo / Inpho)

Richard Collier-Keywood says he was “embarrassed” by Wales’ 73-0 hammering.

In my opinion he expressed the wrong emotion. The players who had just been on the wrong end of that performance were experiencing feelings of humiliation.

These players are also the ones who will be worrying about whether or not they will have jobs at the end of the restructuring process that is clouding everything.

The WRU has pointed to the fixture being organised a long time ago and released a statement ahead of the game talking about the “special occasion” that awaited fans against the world champion Springboks.

I'm pretty sure that wouldn't have involved witnessing our national team being put to the sword in a complete and utter annihilation.

The opportunity for the players to “challenge themselves against the very best sides in the world” was also cited as a reason for holding the fixture.

Any concept of the team challenging South Africa was a misrepresentation of the truth and dissipated within seconds of the kickoff.

It became a contest between men and boys. In other words, Welsh lambs to the slaughter. Well before the end of the game, the team appeared to be well and truly shell-shocked.

This game didn’t do either team any good. We certainly didn’t provide a challenge for South Africa. In fact, it was a complete and utter mismatch.