Wales under Wayne Pivac hit a new low with a humiliating home defeat to Georgia.
A penalty by replacement fly-half Luka Matkava in the 78 th minute clinched a thoroughly deserved win for the minnows – which will lead to perfectly legitimate calls for Pivac to go less than a year out from the 2023 World Cup.
Pivac, who has already presided over a loss to Italy this year, saw his team huff and puff their way through a shambolic and unacceptable display that will rightly have appalled their fans, not to mention WRU bosses.
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Pivac selected a strong home side on paper, but they were clueless yet again in attack and craven in the all-important second half arm-wrestle when they needed individuals to stand up and take responsibility.
Two first-half tries from Ospreys blindside Jac Morgan gave Wales a 12-10 advantage but they failed to add to their score from the 24 th minute onwards, which really said it all.
They were shapeless, lethargic and completely lacking zest and cutting edge for huge chunks of the match.
In the second half, instead of cutting loose as many would have expected, they allowed Georgia to completely dictate the game.
It was shocking, and serious questions will rightly be asked about where this squad is heading, how it has come to this desperate new low and whether there should be wholesale changes to the coaching staff – with Pivac’s the first head to roll.
Welsh bluntness persists
Yet again, Wales demonstrated a chronic lack of cutting edge in attack – in particular throughout the first half.
They didn’t gain a meaningful foothold in the Georgian 22 until the 15 th minute, but then spent three and half minutes attacking through the phases before the visitors cleared.
Morgan’s first try energised them, but their profligacy in the Georgian red zone persisted.
By the half-hour mark Wales had been turned over four times, as their progress was stymied by nagging errors.
The final five minutes of the opening 40 summed their efforts up.
A Rhys Priestland forward pass ruined an attack that was building momentum on the 22m line, then Louis Rees-Zammitt and Tomos Williams both kicked the ball away as try-scoring chances beckoned.
The best sides in the world make every visit to their opponents 22 count, but Wales are infuriatingly inaccurate just as they should be working the scoreboard.
This part of the game just shows how far off the best sides in the world Wales are right now.
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Jac Morgan to the fore again
Having made 16 tackles in 52 minutes on the pitch against Argentina last week, flanker Morgan once again underlined his credentials as a Test performer of rare calibre.
His contribution was a shining light on an otherwise dismal afternoon for Wales .
Morgan claimed his two tries in four first-half minutes, running around the blindside of a lineout and selling a dummy in the 20 th , and then showing superb dexterity to slide in and ground the ball for a second.
Morgan put in some shuddering hits and got around the field with customary industry.
Wales are not short of back-row options, but thus far this autumn Morgan is busy making himself very difficult to leave out.
A big Six Nations looks on the horizon – so long as his team can offer a bit more than this.
Too many lethargic spells by Wales
We’ve all heard a million times the cliché about having to learn to play for 80 minutes. Wales have yet to learn on today’s evidence.
They began the game by botching their receipt of the kick-off, Adam beard mis-timing his jump and allowing the ball to drop behind him.
Moments later, Wales were defending on their own line literally seconds into the contest.
They then failed to clear adequately and followed that up by being penalised at the breakdown.
So, within a minute they were 3-0 behind, and didn’t impose themselves for the next quarter of an hour during which time they were penalised for an early hit at the first scrum and counter-rucked off their own ball in the middle third after scrum-half Tomos Williams had gathered a high ball.
Worse was Wales’ failure to add to their points tally for the entire third quarter of the game and beyond.
Yes, Alex Cuthbert was sin-binned in that time after colliding with a airborne wing Sandro Todua, but it was a segment of the game where you would have expected the home side to step on the gas and put the result to bed.
But quite the contrary, all they did was give hand momentum back to Georgia by allowing them to reduce the deficit to 12-10.
Wales have to eradicate prolonged periods of sloppiness like this – and a whole load of other shortcomings - if they are to be a part of the World Cup knockout phase conversation.
Great day for Georgia
They have long complained about not being given Six Nations membership – and Georgia made a point on that front.
Their defence was sound and in full-back Davit Niniashvili they had arguably the most impressive player on the park.
Niniashvili served notice of the threat he posed when he made a brilliant counter-attacking break from deep in just the fourth minute.
Thereafter he made important yardage time and time again, either through evasive running or taking the ball well in the air and getting across the gain-line.
Going into the final quarter of the match, Georgia were comfortably the better side and made a mockery of suggestions their fitness would account for them as the match wore on.
Having beaten Italy as well this season, 2022 has been a year that has seen the Georgians bolster their Six Nations case.
It won’t happen any time soon, but they could hardly be doing much more.
Set-piece solidity to disarray
Early on Wales were relatively solid at set-piece.
Apart from Ken Owens being penalised for not throwing straight in the sixth minute, the Welsh lineout functioned smoothly.
Ditto the scrum. Wales were clearly determined to make their mark in an area that Georgia have been especially strong.
They did. They disrupted the away side and won two penalties and a free-kick from scrums in the first-half.
But by the closing minutes Wales were being pushed halfway into the stadium and the concession of a scrum allowed Matkava the chance to land the critical penal
