Never go back. Warren Gatland must wonder if he should have heeded that apparently universal truth. After this defeat the New Zealander has overseen the longest ever run of Wales losses: 11 and counting. The pool victory over Georgia at last year’s Rugby World Cup is a distant memory – a result that came days after they thrashed today’s opponents, Australia, by a record margin. In sobering contrast this was a record points total for the Wallabies in Cardiff, who scored eight tries to Wales’s two.
Things have unravelled spectacularly since that World Cup and Gatland, once so assured, looks increasingly out of touch, scratching around for a way out of this ever-deepening hole. True, he has lost plenty of class players to retirement, injury or overseas contracts. He is also being well remunerated. The mood pre-match was acrimonious and will only get worse.
