TRAILING OUR SIX NATIONS RIVALS?

All the analysis and fallout from another southern hemisphere loss for Wales Ireland, Scotland and England triumph in their latest autumn tests

THE good news for Wales is that they won’t have to face two wings as good as Rieko Ioane and Waisake Naholo for some time.

The New Zealand pair shared four tries and 10 clean breaks between them in their side’s 33-18 win over Warren Gatland’s team at the Principality Stadium.

Wales battled hard, won a glut of ball and a fine try from Scott Williams provided some hope to follow on from the encouragement shown with the new style of play displayed during the loss to Australia.

However, Scotland’s 53-24 thrashing of Australia put the Welsh effort into perspective. Yes, the Wallabies played 41 minutes with only 14 men, but the Scots showed a ruthlessness and cutting edge in putting them to the sword. England and Ireland also won. Eddie Jones’ men previously thrashed the Wallabies this autumn, Ireland slaughtered the Springboks.

Some reckon England or Ireland would have beaten a weakened New Zealand on Saturday.

So as the other sides finish their autumn campaigns, just where do Warren Gatland’s side stand and do they have ground to make up on their traditional Six Nations rivals?

Here’s our assessment...

IS YOUR GLASS HALF FULL OR HALF EMPTY AFTER SATURDAY’S BEATING?

Or in smithereens? Only joking, but the reality is Wales were well beaten by a New Zealand side who had been heavily criticised after their display against Scotland a week earlier.

It was 5-2 on tries in Cardiff, let’s remember, and a 15-point margin of defeat.

Call me old fashioned but I’d call that a significant beating.

But the word ‘brave’ was being bandied about?

It is true Wales didn’t roll over, but let’s repeat: it was a 15-point loss. The average margin of defeat over the previous six games against New Zealand in Cardiff was 15.8 points. This was no great leap forward. Wales did play with ambition, for which they should be applauded. And they did win a lot of ball and enjoy much territory.

But they had a harsh lesson in taking chances and never really suggested they were capable of going on and winning the contest. Quite. The Scots gave New Zealand a real hurry-up and could have beaten them at Murrayfield had Stuart Hogg not been reeled in by Beauden Barrett in the final play of the match.

They are the big improvers of the autumn so far, as evidenced by their spanking of Australia.

Their style of rugby is enthralling and highly effective, forwards and backs looking comfortable on the ball.

Gregor Townsend has had a massive impact. First, some facts: In recent weeks Ireland have thrashed South Africa and Scotland have hammered Australia and really worried New Zealand; since Eddie Jones took over, England have won 22 out of 23 games.

By comparison, Wales have a fair bit of catching up to do.

There is a school of thought that they wasted a year or two after the last World Cup, that they should have redeveloped the team and the style of play in 2015. So Gatland’s Wales are lagging two years behind their rivals.

Want further evidence? Well, do you recall that amazing stat that popped up on our TV screens during the game with Ireland in last term’s Six Nations? The one that revealed that Wales had handed debuts to only three players — Sam Davies, Ellis Jenkins and Cory Hill — up to that point since the last World Cup.

Argentina, by contrast, had introduced 26 fresh players and Ireland 19.

Wales were bottom of that particular list.

Things have changed since then, of course, with 15 more players being brought through by the Wales coaches, 11 of them in the tour games against Tonga and Samoa last summer.

But it can take time to adapt on the Test scene and Wales have been left needing some of the newcomers to accelerate their development at the highest level.

Also, the rebuilding programme took something of a hit for a year as Gatland took time out from Wales duties to coach the Lions. He did so with the full backing of the Welsh Rugby Union, who felt the Lions tour would help test and develop him and Rob Howley.

BUT SURELY GATLAND DIDN’T NEED DEVELOPING AS A COACH?

Look, it’s history, but that’s what came out of the WRU. Gatland wanted another crack at the Lions, but that desire contrasted sharply with the attitude Joe Schmidt, who made full involvement in Ireland’s summer matches against the USA and Japan his top priority.

Anyway, how have the Scots managed to get their act together so impressively? It said in one paper “the atmosphere of this month’s three home games has verged on the delirious”.

Glasgow have been strong for quite a while and playing a rapid brand of rugby, first under Townsend and this term under Dave Rennie.

Vern Cotter also laid firm foundations during his stint as national coach, with his side coming agonisingly close to reaching the World Cup semi-finals in 2015.

Townsend has taken the national reins with the expressed aim of getting Scotland to play the fastest-tempo rugby in the world.

He has achieved improvements in an astonishingly short time.

In Stuart Hogg, Huw Jones, Finn