But at the end of another agonisingly close defeat, 33-28, head coach Warren Gatland was at least able to identify some positives as the count-down to next year’s World Cup began in earnest.
“There are a lot of things to build on and all our focus is on getting out of our Pool at next year’s World Cup. The frustrating thing about international coaching is we don’t get enough time with the players,” admitted Gatland.
“Having four or five months together next year will allow us to go into in-depth coaching and conditioning with the players. That’s something we are really looking forward to and getting excited about.
“We will see a big upward curve with this squad when we get that time together, but I’m not sure how much of an upward curve there is in this Australian team. It’s going to be a different animal and beast that faces Australia at the World Cup.
It’s frustrating to lose, and I’m not happy with the result, but I’m pretty happy with the performance. We missed two one-on-one tackles and they scored from both. We were also frustrated at throwing an interception pass that ended in a third try for them.”
Far from being downbeat after another loss to arch-rivals Australia, Wales skipper Sam Warburton was happy with the start his side made to this year’s Dove Men Series.
“It’s the best game we have started with in an Autumn campaign for a long time. Normally we are off the boil a bit at the start,” said Warburton.
“We managed to match their intensity and everyone knows we have the ability to beat these teams. There aren’t going to be another nine or 10 games before we beat them – it’s just a matter of when and not if.
“We are never happy at losing, but we know there will be a heck of a lot of good that will come out of that game. When we look at the tape of the game there will be a lot of positive signs.
“We are only going to get better in the next few weeks.”
