Defeat to Japan just a further sign that the rot in Welsh rugby is far from at an end

SO, here we are again. The final week of a long and wretched season in Welsh rugby.

- By BEN JAMES

It's become a regular occurrence - burying the largely awful campaign that has just gone in the hope that things, somehow, can get better.

Last year, it was the Cory Hill captaincy circus in Brisbane ahead of a clash with the Queensland Reds - with Warren Gatland helpfully trying to put out a fire with petrol.

The year before, the final days of that campaign were spent trying to banish thoughts of strike action, misogyny and waterboarding with the World Cup on the horizon.

The trick, certainly in recent years, is to know that there are always further depths to plumb.

Because now, it's even more desperate than ever.

Gatland left his post five months ago, after 14 Test defeats in a row.

Five months later, that losing run is up to 18 and still there is no sign of white smoke on Westgate Street.

In a rugby sense, we are in purgatory.

Defeat to Japan in Kitakyushu on Saturday was many things. A paradox at times.