Tandy admits Wales humiliating loss to South Africa was ‘hard to watch’

Steve Tandy admitted it was “hard to watch” Wales’ biggest-ever home defeat as South Africa crushed his side 73-0 in Cardiff.

The world champions ran riot with 11 tries as Wales sunk to a new low at Principality Stadium.

There was a sour ending for South Africa as Eben Etzebeth was sent off in the final minute for gouging, but it was Tandy who was left to pick up the pieces after seeing his side dismantled in ruthless fashion.

“It’s always hard to watch when you feel it’s hard to get any grip of the game,” said head coach Tandy.

“It’s disappointing to lose any game, but obviously the margin stings and it’s really raw for the group.

“In fairness to the group, it’s not a lack of effort, a lack of want, or a lack of trying. We just came up against a team that is way further down the track than us.

“But it can’t take away from a lot of the buildings that we’ve done in the first three games.”

The fixture was shrouded in controversy as the Welsh Rugby Union had arranged it outside World Rugby’s official Test window.

It meant Wales were unable to select their 13 England and France-based players that were part of the squad for earlier November Tests against Argentina, Japan and New Zealand.

Overpowered

Tandy had to select a side from Wales’ four regions, but his squad – who boasted fewer caps than the Springboks bench – were predictably overpowered by the world’s number one ranked team.

“The fixture is the fixture, I can’t change it,” said Tandy. “I knew when I got the job this fixture was in place.

“Look, we’ll learn lessons from it, but ultimately it’s the rugby. We’ve got to focus on how we get that better.

“We need games of rugby as a nation that wants to get better. Yes, we had to bring people in and it isn’t perfect circumstances.

“But you find out about people in these times as well. We should be down about the scoreboard, but I’m not going to sit here and throw stones at different things, because ultimately it’s my job to coach the team.”

South Africa head coach Rassie Erasmus said replacement lock forward Etzebeth deserved his late red card for gouging Alex Mann.

Justified

Erasmus said: “I don’t know what I can say that isn’t controversial. It didn’t look good.

“It was a justified red card. It’s definitely not the way we’d have liked to have ended the game. The optics weren’t great.”

Erasmus offered future hope for Wales, having played in South Africa’s record 96-13 win against them at Pretoria in June 1998 only to be on a losing Springboks side in Cardiff 12 months later.

“I refer to ’98 and ’99 because it shows things can change quickly,” said Erasmus.

“You’ve got the support here and if you can get on a little bit of a roll, things will change.”