I’ve been part of Wales teams that have been on losing runs and it’s not pretty.
The pressure builds and quickly. You start to question everything and look for answers in places where you aren’t going to find them. You begin to doubt the coach’s methods.
All sorts of weird things pop into your head. Is the food good enough? Is the schedule right? These details aren’t deciding whether you win or lose at the weekend.
But when you’re under the pump, your mind starts playing tricks and you begin to believe they might be.
The impact of going a long time without a win as a player is more mental than physical. It totally drains you.
In 2012, we lost all four of our autumn internationals with Wales. That November run included a 26-19 home defeat by Samoa. After that loss, we were in a hole, and would eventually make it eight defeats in a row.
Dan Biggar and Wales lost all four of their Autumn Internationals in 2012 and would later make it eight defeats in a row
Warren Gatland’s side come in to Sunday’s clash with Samoa under enormous pressure amid a torrid run of form
Dewi Lake (left) and Co have now lost their last 11 Tests – do they have the belief that they can get that first win on the board?
I remember driving into the Vale Resort on the Monday post Samoa and thinking to myself ‘S***, this is really bad right now.’ To be fair, my mood wasn’t helped by the fact I’d ruined my shoulder in the game after Filo Paulo had essentially tried to take my head off!
As a team, we were copping it from everywhere in November 2012. But we knew we were still a good side deep down because we’d won a Grand Slam earlier in the year and would win the Six Nations again in 2013.
This Wales squad is in a very different place. They’ve lost 11 Tests in a row. Do they really have the belief they can get a win on the board?
It’s incredibly tough for the players right now. Warren Gatland as head coach is under the pump after presiding over the worst sequence of results in Welsh history.
When you’re on a run like that, you have to keep believing you’ll turn it around. But until you actually do, it’s hard to have faith it’ll actually happen – even if you’re the one saying it!
Warren has always been a no-nonsense coach. But the problem right now is that there is so much uncertainty over his future.
Warren will have laid out his plans in team meetings ahead of a daunting game with South Africa. But when you’ve lost 11 on the spin, it’s only natural the players will be thinking ‘Is this approach really working?’
As tough as it is, the players will be aware Warren might not be around after the weekend. That surreptitiously puts the thought in your head of ‘Do I need to play for him?’
As a legend of Welsh rugby, Biggar retains a close relationship with a number of this Wales side
Gatland has always been such a no-nonsense coach but he is facing uncertainty over his future
I’m very, very close with a lot of the players and staff with Wales and what they’re going through now is painful. It’s the darkest time in Welsh rugby I can remember.
As a player, I was one of the most competitive out there. But I don’t think it’s disrespectful to say that while there is always a chance in professional sport, Wales are hugely unlikely to win this weekend against a stacked Springboks side.
You want to have belief and one of Warren’s greatest strengths is giving his players exactly that. But it doesn’t matter who you are, at some point when you’ve lost 11 on the spin and things aren’t working, you start to doubt the process.
It would have to take something catastrophic from South Africa for Wales to win.
Dewi Lake has handled himself brilliantly as Wales captain under the toughest of circumstances. I’m sure the mood in the camp would have been very tense this week.
Speculation over Warren’s future has dominated. The players will be talking about it too, make no mistake.
When do you say enough is enough? If Warren stays for next year’s Six Nations, which begins with a daunting trip to France on opening night, the winless run will likely be at 13 matches by the time Wales go to Italy on February 8.
Can the Welsh Rugby Union wait that long? Changing the coach won’t solve all the issues in the Welsh game, but clearly anyone who has lost 11 in a row will find themselves under pressure.
Wales are hugely unlikely to come out on top against double world champions South Africa this weekend
If Gatland stays in charge that run could reach 13 straight defeats by the time they play Italy
A fresh coaching voice may get an extra 10 or 20 per cent out of this current group of players. But it also might not. We just don’t know.
Losses have a huge impact on everything to do with Welsh rugby. It influences the finances and the grassroots level. How many people will want to keep watching the national side lose?
Sometimes when you lose, the tendency is to flog a dead horse. So, I think it was a good move by Warren to give the players Monday and Tuesday off this week.
In the 52-20 defeat by Australia, I thought it was very quiet on the pitch and the confidence of the players looked to be at rock bottom.
They will have to be on the money against South Africa though because if they’re not, there is potential for the scoreline to get very, very ugly.
If I was in the Wales dressing room, I’d be firing the boys up for a scrap. After we lost to Samoa in 2012, our next game was against New Zealand who were world champions at the time. There are certain parallels to be drawn between then and now.
The current situation also reminds me of when we lost at home to Italy in 2022 under Wayne Pivac. We went out to South Africa then and properly got in their faces.
Wayne Pivac’s side lost at home to Italy in 2022 before taking on South Africa, where they tried to get ‘in their faces’ – that’s what Wales should do this time around
We knew we couldn’t beat the Springboks on pure rugby ability, so we tried to ruffle a few feathers. I was captain of the team and tried to lead that approach.
The first Test in Pretoria was a war. There was so much niggle. As a Wales team, we were aggressive and confrontational, but always legal.
We should have won the first Test and did win the second. Our approach in that series was to try to take form out of the occasion.
That is what Wales should do this weekend. It will very much be about producing a performance that will put pride back in the shirt and keep the team in the game.
You can never fault Wales’ effort. But South Africa will almost certainly be a step too far. And it may well end up being Warren’s 149th and final game in charge.
