ANDY HOWELL
PREDICTABLE, ponderous, laboured, clueless, call it what you want, but nobody in their right mind can hide from the fact that Wales were absolutely awful against Australia.
This was their 12th loss in a row and their heaviest home defeat since losing 45-10 to New Zealand in Cardiff 10 years ago.
And the margin was wider than the 33-12 humiliation suffered against the Wallabies in 2009.
How much longer can we keep hearing the age-old excuses like that predictably trotted out by caretaker coach Rob Howley after this embarrassment?
“The more you play against sides like that the more you learn,” claimed the former scrum-half.
According to my calculations, we have heard that 32 times during the Howley and Warren Gatland era, with Wales having just two victories over members of the southern hemisphere big three – Australia in 2008 and South Africa two years ago – since they were appointed following the 2007 World Cup shambles.
Go back even further and it gets worse with Wales having lost 67 of their 72 fixtures against those two and New Zealand since finishing third at the inaugural World Cup of 1987.
The other beauty Wales normally cite after losing their opening match of the autumn campaign – their last opening day win was against those ‘world-beaters’ Romania in 2002, is a lack of preparation time.
Based on that premise, how the heck did New Zealand manage to beat Wales in their opening Test five months ago?
Oh, I forgot, Wales had been on the go for 13 months and were tired. Well, what have their autumn opponents Australia, Argentina and South Africa been doing?
Their players having been crisscrossing the globe since last Feburary for Super Rugby and Rugby Championship fixtures.
Argentina had a 24-hour flight to Tokyo, thrashing Japan 54-20, and face a 16-hour haul to Cardiff for next Saturday’s clash with Wales.
I wonder what the attendance for that game will be with ticket sales apparently disappointing?
The concern is, if the powerful and skilful Pumas turn up with their A game, it could be another long day in the office for Wales.
Yes, Wales were without two key forwards in Alun Wyn Jones and Taulupe Faletau against Australia but they were over-ran in the first half and hardly got a sniff of the ball.
Howley’s front-five was anonymous and effectively bypassed with Wales not having a single throw to a line-out before the break.
When they did get the ball, the attack lacked ideas, was telegraphed with the speed of passing along the back-line slow in comparison to the razor-sharp hands and off-loading of the Australians before contact.
It helps when you have got a player of the quality of Wallaby general Bernard Foley receiving quick ball on the frontfoot and dictating but they were in a different league with the high tempo at which they played.
The Wallabies were well-drilled and knew exactly what they were doing with decoy runners and the timing of passes, particularly to inside runners, piercing the Welsh defence with alarming regularity.
Remember when Wales had a defence to boast about?
Forget it, it’s history for they’ve conceded an astonishing 31 tries in their last six fixtures, at an average in excess of five per game.
The number of missed one on one tackles and Wales’ results ledger has reached crisis point.
Wales have won just three of their last 12 (13 if you include the summer thrashing against Super Rugby outfit Chiefs) Tests, which is as bad as during the worst days of Welsh rugby.
There was something else which also bothered me watching Australia, who bombed a number of try-scoring chances, at times taking the mick and it concerns motivation.
For there’s a Lions tour looming on the horizon and places in Gatland’s squad for it are up for grabs.
Carry on like this and there will hardly be a Welsh player involved.
They have to react and fast, starting against a dangerous Argentina next Saturday!
How much longer can we keep hearing the age-old excuses?