Mike Phillips required just one word to sum up the Welsh response to a third successive Australian smash-and-grab raid – devastation.
World Cup semi-finalists last year and the reigning RBS 6 Nation champions, Wales suffered their first four-Test autumn whitewash after Kurtley Beale's try 26 seconds from time gave the Wallabies a dramatic 14-12 success.
Four penalties by Leigh Halfpenny – he was carried off and taken to hospital for neck scans following some last-ditch defensive work – gave Wales every chance of ending a demoralising losing run.
But that sequence has now stretched to seven Tests, and eight games with Australia having won their last three encounters by a combined total of just five points and contributing to an alarming statistic of 20 defeats from 21 games against the Wallabies, New Zealand and South Africa since Warren Gatland became head coach five years ago.
"It was a game we were in control of and it's very difficult to talk about," Wales scrum-half Phillips said. "To lose again in the last minute like that, it's devastation. We would rather lose by 50 points, I think.
"But we have got to take it on the chin. We played some outstanding rugby, some of the best we have played this autumn and Australia never threatened our line until the last 30 seconds, which makes it all the more difficult to take."
If victory over the Barbarians six months ago is discounted, Wales have not won a Test match since they clinched the Six Nations title and Grand Slam by beating France in Cardiff on March 17. Defence of their crown begins there, against Ireland, in nine weeks.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article