'It's hard to watch': Wales boss tries to pick up the pieces
SPOTLIGHT: Wales head coach Steve Tandy believes Saturday’s 0-73 result against the Springboks ‘can’t take away’ from his team’s progress.
South Africa ran in 11 unanswered tries to inflict a record home defeat on Wales in the season-ending international Test in Cardiff on Saturday.
The loss surpassed Wales’s 14-68 defeat to England in the Six Nations in March.
It was also the first time they had been kept pointless in Cardiff in the professional era – the last time Wales were kept at nil in the capital was back in 1967 in a 0-3 loss to Ireland.
They also suffered a 0-51 defeat to France in 1998 at Wembley in what was technically a home game.
“It’s always hard to watch when you feel it’s hard to get any grip of the game,” Tandy told reporters after Saturday’s demoralising result.
“It’s disappointing to lose any game, but obviously the margin stings and it’s really raw for the group.
“In fairness to the group, it’s not a lack of effort, a lack of want, or a lack of trying. We just came up against a team that is way further down the track than us.
“But it can’t take away from a lot of the buildings that we’ve done in the first three games.”
There was some controversy surrounding the fixture, as it was scheduled outside the international window.
As a result, Tandy lost 13 players, who have returned to their clubs.
It left the Welsh team depleted and looking decidedly underpowered for the clash at the Principality Stadium.
While Bok coach Rassie Erasmus also faced the departure of several big names, including newly-crowned World Player of the Year Malcolm Marx, their strength in depth was light-years ahead of the Welsh.
“The fixture is the fixture, I can’t change it,” said Tandy. “I knew when I got the job, this fixture was in place.
“Look, we’ll learn lessons from it, but ultimately it’s the rugby. We’ve got to focus on how we get that better.
“We need games of rugby as a nation that wants to get better. Yes, we had to bring people in and it isn’t perfect circumstances.
“But you find out about people in these times as well. We should be down about the scoreboard, but I’m not going to sit here and throw stones at different things, because ultimately it’s my job to coach the team.”
Sources: PA & AFP
