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Wales have played 2 southern hemisphere big guns this month; both times the opposition fielded a rotated team, both times that team didn’t put their best foot forward, both times Wales copped 50 points. The message to Welsh fans online and in the media? ‘Take the positives’.
Rogers (9', 32', 42'), Rees-Zammit (76')
Tries
Clarke (4', 78'), Love (28'), Williams (37'), Ioane (50'), Reece (58', 69')
Edwards (10', 33', 43')
Conversions
McKenzie (5', 29', 38', 51', 59', 70', 79')
Penalties
McKenzie (12')
Wales have played 2 southern hemisphere big guns this month; both times the opposition fielded a rotated team, both times that team didn’t put their best foot forward, both times Wales copped 50 points. The message to Welsh fans online and in the media? ‘Take the positives’.
So, the question is whether there really are positives to be taken or whether this is just Wales fans looking to cope with the misery/opposition fans taking pity on them. Let’s discuss.
If there is a positive, it’s the attack. Wales have scored 11 tries in 3 games despite perishingly few opportunities. Matt Sherratt is a proven attack coach and has clearly improved Wales in this area since coming in.
However, the bar for that couldn’t be lower given Wales’ top scorer under Gatland 2.0 was ‘penalty try’. Tom Rogers has now beaten that tally in 2025 (thanks to a well taken, historic hat-trick) which is a relief.
Speaking of Sherratt, scoring 4 tries but losing is a phenomenon that watchers of his former Cardiff Rugby side will be extremely familiar with. Last season, the Blue & Blacks registered 10 try bonus points in the URC but only won 8 games.
There is a conspiracy theory going round Wales fans that Sherratt is still the man calling the shots in Wales camp and patterns like that won’t help him beat those allegations.
Onto the real Welsh boss, Steve Tandy: Is it still too early to come to a verdict? Of course. However, for a man who supposedly cut his teeth around the world as a defence coach, an average of 5.4 points conceded per 22m entry against in this game and 127 points shipped in 3 games doesn’t exactly scream ‘immediate impact’.
In fairness to him, some of the All Black’s 7 tries came from kiwis embarrassing Welsh defenders in 1 on 1 situations. Others were the net result of physical domination from visibly superior athletes. These are mitigation for Tandy but the fact is there is little to suggest he has made a meaningful difference to performance of the rearguard effort since taking over.
What might help the cause is any kind of shift from the tight five at set piece time. So far, Wales have faced opposition 15 scrums and 42 lineouts this autumn without disrupting a single one of them: an unforgivable stat. A turnover might help too –(Wales won zero in this game) or a dominant tackle rate of more than 2% (New Zealand were at 11%).
Truthfully, the statistics for this game were a shambles. Wales gave up 67% of the ball to the All Blacks who managed to capitalise despite looking pretty clueless themselves at times. 1,362 metres for the visitors a frontrunner for the hotly contested worst-stat-of-all award, somehow beating Japan’s 1,060 odd from last week. Meanwhile, the All Blacks 282 passes in 80 minutes of rugby is simply cartoonish at this level (France and South Africa threw 109 and 112 in their matches respectively).
14 penalties conceded to 4 is a doozy too, which Tandy in his wisdom decided to speak on at length in the post-match press conference. Referee Hollie Davidson actually spared Wales a further try conceded by overruling a poor call from the TMO on a ball being held up by hat-trick hero Tom Rogers.
Reading all of the above, many a Wales fan will shrug, fold their arms and say ‘it’s the reality of where we are’ - and they’re right, it is: Wales are a team that takes 50 points at home against opposition who play decent but not great rugby.
Are the players likeable? Very – regional fans like most of them already, actually. Is the attack better than it was under Gatland? Difficult not to be. Is the team moving in the right direction? At best it has stopped going in the wrong direction.
Perhaps we should re-frame the question: Have Wales lifted themselves off rock bottom or have their eyes simply adjusted to the darkness down there? Dunno, maybe the Springboks can help us figure that out… or maybe not.
