Rugby Union

Wales slammed by local media after another Wallabies defeat

The Welsh rugby team has copped an almighty beating from the media after their 32-8 loss to the Wallabies in Cardiff with some experts describing their form as "shocking" and others questioning their overall attitude. 

Following Wales' five tries to one defeat in their first Test since June, British media wasted no time getting stuck into the team after their worst loss on home soil in 10 years. 

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Welsh rugby royalty Shane Williams, who was reasonably optimistic about his country's chances in the lead-up, slammed the performance under the headline "The most painful Welsh defeat in recent memory". 

"I don't know where to start after that and unfortunately neither did Wales," Williams wrote in The Rugby Paper. "That defeat and especially the first half display will really have hurt the Welsh coaching staff and players more than any in recent history. They were supposed to kick-off the autumn series with a big performance but they simply weren't at the races for much of the contest. 

"The Wallabies were stronger, more streetwise and that bit hungrier." 

Sir Clive Woodward, the man who led England to World Cup victory on Australian soil and coached the British and Irish Lions tour of 2005, was equally unimpressed. 

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"Wales were miserably poor and they face a tough autumn now," Woodward wrote in The Mail on Sunday. "They should have been sharp and fresh. Instead they looked stale and lethargic. I question Wales' attitude to these games." 

Steve James from the UK's Sunday Telegraph said Wales were so far off the pace in the opening passages of play that "it was quite shocking" while Wales Online's Simon Thomas said Rob Howley's men "look just about the brittlest side out there" after once upon a time boasting one of the strongest defences of northern hemisphere sides. 

Hammering on and off the field: The media has savaged Wales after their loss to the Wallabies on home soil.
Hammering on and off the field: The media has savaged Wales after their loss to the Wallabies on home soil. Photo: Stu Forster

There was plenty of credit thrown the way of the Wallabies, in particular towards five-eighth Bernard Foley, winger Dane Haylett-Petty and fullback Israel Folau. 

Peter Jackson, in the The Rugby Paper, was equally as savage of Wales' showing at Principality Stadium in front of a smaller than usual crowd of 55,000. 

"Now it's 12 straight defeats in eight years and counting but none as grim as the one inflicted on Saturday," he wrote. "Wales were so dire had they had lost by 50 points they could have not complained. That is how bad it was. 

"Where on earth is this Wales team going, other than backwards at a rate of knots? Michael Cheika could never have imagined it would be this easy. 'I have a feeling,' the Wallaby head coach said pre-match. 'That it's going to be close again.' He must have been acting the clown."

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