Ieuan Evans: Warren Gatland's quest for Wales skills to reach new peak
By Ieuan Evans
Last Updated: 1:33am BST 08/06/2008
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The stony face of Warren Gatland told the story of Wales's afternoon in Bloemfontein. It was disappointing for the players and supporters and shows how far the team has to travel to produce consistent performances. It was pretty ominous at times.
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The fact remains - despite Wales having won the Six Nations Championship - that the skill levels of the players are still not good enough to compete fully against the bigger and better southern hemisphere players.
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Gatland knows this and has talked often about the subject. He unexpectedly engineered instant success this season but he is aware the team are far from the finished article.
It may be a case of one step forward and two steps back. It was always going to be a fierce examination in a city where South Africa rarely lose. The odds were against the visitors because of the conditions and the altitude.
Gatland knows that to improve Wales he must challenge the players and this Test series is expected to stretch everyone.
Wales have improved but the Springboks remain too powerful. Their bigger men like John Smit, Bakkies Botha and Pierre Spies have excellent, all-round skills.
At least Wales showed they have the capability of scoring. They produced two well-worked tries where they held on to the ball and showed the breathtaking ability we know they have. But overall they were well beaten.
Wales must realise that they cannot harness the talent of Shane Williams and co until they can hold on to possession for sustained periods in which they make no errors. Against the Springboks yesterday, they just made too many mistakes.
In the first half, Wales committed 10 unforced errors and no coach can plan for that. They simply did not do this in the Six Nations. Against the aggressive defence of South Africa, Wales struggled. A lot has been said about the Springboks, but when it came time to find the top gear they really put the pedal to the floor. For Wales, William's try was a stand-out moment, but before then the Springboks had won the contest in an area where Gatland's team often excel. They have made the offload one of their best aspects but the likes of centre Jean de Villiers and Juan Smith, the flanker, were too good. In fact, they were brilliant in helping to make the four tries for South Africa.
Wales will ponder their preparations. They had taken medical advice and trained in Cape Town until a day before the match. The idea was that by remaining at sea level until the last moment, the affects of the high altitude in Bloemfontein would be negated. The All Blacks and Wallabies have followed this pattern and won games.
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One aspect they might question, however, is the lack of a warm-up match. Wales have not played competitively for three weeks. Gatland has talked about going back to introducing traditional tour games but this is a tricky decision that depends on the availability of players.
South Africa produced a professional performance. If you consider all the changes from the World Cup then it was impressive.
Wales must consider making changes, but there is little time to turn things round. Gatland must look at the scrum-half situation and consider giving Warren Fury a full debut. Some people have suggested playing Williams at No?9 but he is a world-class wing. I'm loathed to move players from their best positions.
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