We must be more clinical in attack - Anscombe

GARETH ANSCOMBE has warned Wales not to rest on their laurels and insists they must sharpen up their attack for this week’s series finale with South Africa.

Warren Gatland’s side have won all three of their November Tests and will look for a first autumn clean sweep when they take on the Springboks on Saturday.

Wales’ defence – masterminded by Shaun Edwards – continues to be the strongest aspect of their game, but fly-half Anscombe wants to see more from his team-mates behind the scrum.

The playmaker – who started the wins over Scotland and Australia at fly-half – said: “We back our defence and I think that comes a bit more naturally to this team than attack.

“But I think for us to go to the next level we probably need to create a little bit more. We really need to keep working on the attacking aspect of our game.

“Even thought we beat Australia we were still disappointed we couldn’t get over the whitewash.

“We weren’t too far away from scoring with a couple of kicks in behind not quite going to hand, but we are on a bit of a roll now so we’ve got to keep looking at ways to build on our game.”

Anscombe – arguably Wales’ most creative option at No.10 – knows he has Dan Biggar and Rhys Patchell breathing down his neck for a starting spot.

The New Zealand-born pivot knows rugby’s evolution means there is less and less space on the field, but insists Wales can’t totally rely on defence to beat the world’s best.

“When the ball gets slowed down, the advantage goes to defending teams particularly in this day and age. With such organised defences, it becomes tough to break teams down,” he said.

“We created a few opportunities against Australia but for us to go up to the next level, we’ve got to be a bit more clinical in attack. I think we are getting there, our squad is building very nicely and we’ve got a good mixture of youth and experience with two or three guys in each position really putting their hands up.”