Wales’s Six Nations campaign started in extremely deflating fashion against old foes England at Twickenham
Wales’ 48-7 defeat to England at the Allianz Stadium Twickenham was as poor a performance as you’ll see in the championship.
Steve Tandy’s side got taken to the cleaners as they shipped six tries against Steve Borthwick’s side.
And it doesn’t get any easier for Wales who face a France side who ruthlessly put Ireland to the sword next Sunday.
Here are your winners and losers from a dark afternoon in south west London.
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Winners
Aaron Wainwright
Easily Wales’ best player.
The Dragons No 8 was the only Wales forward who could consistently get over the gainline.
Wainwright mixed his footwork with explosive power to put in a decent individual performance.
He was Wales’ top carrier with 13.
Owen Watkin
The experienced Ospreys centre wasn’t involved against England but his standing would have been enhanced by not being on the field.
Wales’ midfield did not fire and looked extremely porous in defence.
Watkin is the best defensive centre in Welsh rugby and is a safe pair of hands.
The 29-year-old should come into the reckoning for a starting place against France.
Olly Cracknell
Another player not involved against England but if Wales learnt anything from that 80 minutes at Twickenham it’s that they need big heavy ball carriers who can get over the gainline.
Cracknell won the player-of-the-match award in Wales’ only victory of the autumn over Japan.
He is a physical player who carries hard and if fit should start against France.
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Losers
Wales coaching team
It was always going to be an uphill task taking over a side who are at rock bottom and when you throw in all the off-field distractions not many people will envy Steve Tandy.
But Wales are so far off the rest of the tier one nations and it is difficult to see what the coaches can do to turn things around.
Wales’ struggles are not Tandy’s fault because the structure underpinning the national side is too weak and needs replacing.
But many Welsh rugby fans are fickle and if there are more defeats of this nature then the ire of supporters will always be directed at the head coach, even if it is unfair.
The Wales pack
Wales’ pack got blown out of the water by a far stronger England eight who dominated their visitors from minute one to 80.
Unless the pack fronts up against France they will be on the end of another heavy defeat at the Principality Stadium next Sunday.
If you lose the collisions to the extent Wales did at Twickenham then you are not going to win a game of rugby at any level, let alone a Test match.
Wales arguably have an even tougher physical assignment to come against Fabien Galthie’s side.
The set-piece needs to be a lot stronger, while they also need to find a way of getting over the gainline.
Wales also failed to slow down the speed of England’s ruck ball and it is imperative they are better in this area in seven days’ time.
Ben Thomas
It was another tough day at the office at Test level for the Cardiff centre.
Yes, he was on the backfoot but when Wales did get the ball the attack failed to fire with Tandy’s side scoring a mere seven points over the last two Test matches.
Thomas’ loose pass in the first half allowed Henry Arundell to run in unopposed for a try, while the Cardiff centre also got sent to the sin bin after the break.
The 27-year-old is an outstanding club player but has struggled to transfer his form at that level into the international game.
Dewi Lake
The Wales captain spoke honestly after the game.
But this wasn’t his best performance. The lineout did not go well, while he made a crucial error by not tapping the ball from a penalty just metres short of the England try line.
Lake needs to bounce back strongly against France next weekend.