Too many errors, but future’s bright for Wales | Shane Williams
IT HAS been the longest Welsh rugby season I can remember and the second Test with Argentina proved a step too far for Wayne Pivac's side. The Pumas thoroughly deserved to win and claim the series 1-0.
They would probably have come out on top 2-0 had they kept 15 players on the pitch in the first game, I don't think anyone can deny that.
Wales would have been desperate to end the 2021-22 campaign on a high. They didn't manage to do it, but Wayne should be happy on the whole with how the last 12 months have gone.
I would give Wales a B+ for the season as a whole. It could even be an A – if I'm generous!
With the Covid-19 pandemic we have all been through so much and from a rugby perspective it is hard to remember when one season finished and the next began!
In the last 12 to 18 months following Wales has certainly been like riding a rollercoaster! When the 2020 Six Nations returned after Covid lessened, Wales were poor and lost to Scotland.
They then got even worse and had a shocking Autumn Nations Cup campaign where they beat only Georgia and Italy before rising like a phoenix from the ashes to win the 2021 Six Nations.
Wayne's men came so close to a Grand Slam, too.
This summer, with their best players with the British & Irish Lions, Wales have looked at the next generation and they have been entirely right to do so.
It would have been great to beat Argentina, but to do so would have been remarkable given the strength of the respective sides.
We have seen in the last two Tests just how good the Pumas are. They really are a coming force in international rugby and in Pablo Matera, Facundo Isa and Rodrigo Bruni they have one of the best back-rows in world rugby. Wales' young guns couldn't cope with them physically in the two Tests.
That is to be expected and if you are going backwards in the contact area there will also be a few mistakes with ball in hand because of the pressure you are under up front.
Still, Wales made far too many mistakes with ball in hand. There were so, so many dropped balls I lost count and that would have been a big disappointment for Wayne despite the hot conditions.
Wales' skills failed under pressure and if you do that against a good side, you won't win international matches.
Someone like Jarrod Evans will be particularly disappointed because this was a big chance for him to impress and he wasn't helped by his forwards being smashed to bits.
He'll have a fight on his hands next season because, fingers crossed, both Gareth Anscombe and Rhys Patchell will be fit to return to the Welsh squad. Rhys Priestland might be there too.
I liked Owen Lane's performance. In the first Argentina Test he barely got a sniff, but the boy can finish. His opening try was superb. He made it look quite easy. Mark my words, it wasn't.
The rest of the backs were pretty quiet to be honest. Hallam Amos struggled under the high ball after being man of the match last week and unfortunately his yellow card was about right.
Wales' struggles against Argentina were in the forwards. Their scrum was second best in both games. Guys like Leon Brown, Dillon Lewis and Gareth Thomas will have learned a lot. Wayne is right to be positive about his young players coming through but a lot of the guys we saw this summer are unlikely to be starting matches in the autumn.
“Wales' struggles were in the forwards. The scrum was second best”
Wales have four massive matches this November: New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and Fiji. That is going to be a huge, huge challenge with all three big southern hemisphere sides coming to Cardiff. Wayne will obviously treat that campaign like he did the Six Nations and play his best XV.
The big names on the Lions tour will all come back, but what is as certain as that happening is that Wales will suffer injuries and some of the Welsh boys of the summer of 2021 will be called upon.
I hope they take the learnings from this campaign because they will have to be ready.
For now, though, it's time for Wayne and the squad to have a good rest.
They've deserved it because in what has been a miserable time for everyone with the pandemic, they've given Wales plenty to cheer about.
It hasn't been perfect and yes there is still room for improvement, but the future is bright and I'm excited by how the next two years before the next World Cup will go.
SHANE WILLIAMS
