Leaving the Millennium Stadium after Wales’ 24-15 defeat to South Africa yesterday, my first thoughts were annoyance, yet again, at our inability to defeat Southern Hemisphere opposition.
I thought the performance itself wasn’t up to scratch, and moaned about what is an apparent mental block when faced with one of Australia, South Africa or New Zealand.
The facts speak for themselves: since the 2005 Six Nations (and the revival in Welsh rugby fortunes), Wales have lost eight out of eight against the All Blacks (best result 12-19 in 2009), nine out of nine against the Springboks (best result 16-17 in the 2011 World Cup) and 11 out of 14 against the Wallabies (including one draw).
Another shocking stat is that Wales have not won one game in November since 2009, with those four years including defeats to Samoa and Argentina as well as a draw with Fiji. And we might be better than England and France, but they have always been much more likely (and often successful) in beating the old Tri Nations teams.
On the other hand, and as Eddie Butler writes in today’s Observer, South Africa are a pretty decent side:
“…to be dismayed not to have beaten the second best team in the world reflects an unusual state of mind for Wales…”
And having had a bit of time to reflect on the defeat, I’m not in quite as much despair as I was yesterday. For a start, Wales dominated long periods of the game. Yes, it was a lot of huffing and puffing for minimal reward, but in the 12 minutes or so when the World’s Best Centre, Jonathan Davies, was on the field, we did create opportunities. Losing someone of his calibre early on would hurt most teams, not to mention the subsequent injury which forced Adam Jones off.
A huge difference was that South Africa took the chances (or half chances) which presented themselves, and kicked far less aimlessly than their hosts. I don’t want to blame Alain Rolland for the defeat, but, as well as a few bonkers decisions, if he had spotted an obvious offside during the Springboks’ third, decisive try, the game could have turned out very differently.
Even so, Wales never really looked like winning, and we were hardly “robbed”. What this defeat does mean, though, is that we have to beat Argentina, Tonga and Australia – or this autumn will have been another missed opportunity.
An Early Bath 
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Welsh Rugby News – I’ve been too gutted to write my own review. Disappointed with last 20 minutes and gutted about the loss of two of our most influential (and hardest to replace) players (Adam Jones and Jonathon Davies) for the rest of the Autumn Test Series.
Hoping we can use Hooky to open up some defenses with some Line breaking Magic and George North a lot more as the battering ram he has been built for!
[…] of what we have come to expect from him: a combination of speed, power and deftness when required. He was kept in check by South Africa last week, but against an admittedly much weaker opposition, he looked like he was back on the Lions […]