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Ben James

Wales coach admits Georgia defeat was 'absolutely horrific' as series of meetings held within squad

Wales assistant coach Neil Jenkins has called Saturday's defeat to Georgia one of Wales' "darkest days", adding there's no "hiding place" for Wayne Pivac's side after the humiliating loss in Cardiff.

Jenkins, who has virtually seen it all as both a player and coach, called the defeat to Georgia - Wales' first ever - "absolutely horrific".

Serious questions are now being asked of Pivac following the 13-12 defeat, just months after a first home defeat to Italy at the end of the Six Nations.

No decision is expected to be made on the future of the coaching ticket ahead of Saturday's autumn finale with Australia, piling the pressure on getting a positive result against an injury-hit Wallabies. However, Jenkins insisted the squad was still behind the beleaguered head coach.

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"Of course, we don’t want to be in that position," said Jenkins. "We don’t want Wayne in that position.

"None of us want to be in that position. It’s important that we collectively - players, staff, everyone - come together quickly, which I think we’ve done, and turn up on Saturday.

"There’s no hiding place. We need to be ready to go Saturday."

He added: "It’s tough. I’m not going to lie. It is incredibly disappointing, which is probably putting it lightly.

"It’s one of the darkest days. But you’ve got to go again.

"We've got another Test match on Saturday, and it is important that we turn up and front up. It’s an important Test."

Having been involved with the national team for the best part of 30 years, Jenkins has seen many of the lows in Welsh rugby first-hand. However, while he's no longer lacing up his boots anymore, the pain hasn't diminished.

"It’s horrific," he said. It’s absolutely horrific.

"It never gets easier, not that it should do either. I’m a passionate Welshman.

"I’m desperate for Wales to do well. It could be tiddlywinks, I want Wales to win and be successful.

"Whether I’m involved in that or not is irrelevant to me. I want Wales to be successful.

"I want to win Test matches. That’s what I’m here for, to be successful and win. I’m desperate to win, starting on Saturday."

Defeat to Georgia means Wales have only won three matches so far in 2022, which is on course to be one of their worst calendar years since the game went professional. The disappointing thing for Wales is how each of those victories have come on the back of defeats, with Wales struggling for consistency under Pivac.

"You don’t want to be in that position again, do you," he said when asked about how Wales responded to the equally shocking defeat to Italy. "That was March and this is November, and we are back in the same position again.

"We fronted up in South Africa during the summer, and we fronted up after New Zealand. We don’t want to keep fronting up because of a poor display or a poor result.

"You want to be building some momentum. We’ve got no option on Saturday. We need to front up. Everyone."

The early part of this Test week ahead of Australia has been spent reviewing what went wrong against Georgia. So what lessons did they find?

"How long have you got? I’m not going to go into detail, but we have to be better in all aspects.

"The longer you leave teams like Georgia in the game, the tougher it gets for you. We couldn't get away on the scoreboard.

"We didn't score any points in the second-half, and we suffered the consequences for it. It costs you. You have to put them to bed.

Was the process full of calm analysis or full-blooded screaming? "It’s probably a bit of everything," he added.

"You’ve got to look at yourself, it doesn't matter whether you are playing, coaching, whatever part of the staff you are involved in, and ask if you did enough to win a Test match.

"Luckily enough, we have another game on Saturday."

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