The Ospreys and Dragons are now departing South Africa and it caps an utterly miserable few weeks in the country for Welsh rugby.
Before we go any further, it is important to apply the caveat that only the two aforementioned Welsh sides had anything approaching full strength sides in their final games. The other six matches played by Welsh teams against South African opposition out there were largely without their international contingent. Nonetheless, the prevailing opinion is that while games might have been closer, the results were unlikely to have changed.
As such, the starkest of messages have been sent to the Welsh Rugby Union about the state of the professional game under their stewardship. It comes hot on the heels of Wales’ Six Nations campaign under Wayne Pivac ending in disaster against Italy and the numbers make for ugly reading.
READ MORE: We need to hear from the WRU, there are many questions that need answering
Across the eight matches played, South African sides walked away with the maximum five league points in all eight. Welsh teams left without a single point between them. Cumulatively, that’s 40-0. On average, South African sides scored 44 points per game, Welsh side scored 13, making the average margin of victory 31 points. That’s a chasm.
In other stats, South African sides managed an average of 552 metres per game, with Welsh teams replying with 280. To cut to the chase, their teams were rampant and they met little resistance. In fact, you’d be hard-pressed to argue that any of the games were competitive for a full 80 minutes.
For those who go in for this sort of thing, the collective score was South Africa 351-106 Wales. Not pretty.
So there, in black and white, are the problems on the field but it is not a simple fix. There is clearly the valid point that the regions should have been doing better with the resources they had at their disposal in South Africa, but eight thrashings in a row all feeds an inescapable sense that Rome is burning.
After watching his Dragons side ship 50 points twice, to the Bulls and the Sharks, a forlorn Dean Ryan said: “There’s not one single problem. There are a number of conversations that need to be had.
“Let’s not try to over-simplify it. Wales’ challenge is a complex one, it’s going to require some courage and it’ll require some people to lead because it isn’t about one thing.
“I’m not going to answer it in the context that it is about one thing. It’s a huge issue and we can keep on ignoring it but we’ll keep getting closer to sliding down a cliff. Something has to be done. If we’ve needed a reminder, I think the last couple of weeks have been a stark reminder.”
He added: “We can’t answer the power that is coming at us and that’s a reality check for us, it’s a reality check for Wales coming into three Tests in June. There is some gulf between ourselves and the South Africa sides when it comes to power.”
It cannot be overlooked that the Welsh sides were sent away without their internationals and that is a valid point. That is an issue for the league to resolve and it is a tale as old as time. Resolutions are hard to find and avoiding clashes with Test windows and rest periods for top stars is tough when you expand the competition to 16 teams.
But the South Africans copped flak when they struggled in the northern hemisphere at the start of the season, without their best players, and now roles have been reversed. It’s a pity, because they have shown in recent weeks just what a force they are and it would have been nice to see the best players from Wales going up against the best in South Africa.
Even the hosts admitted so. Sharks boss Sean Everitt told WalesOnline: “When we were over in the UK in October it was difficult for us too because although the winter was mild at that stage, we were playing against the Welsh teams at full strength.
“It’s a massive difference when those players are playing and when they’re not. They are international players for a reason. Welsh teams have come over here without those players. It would be great if we were playing full strength against full strength every week and the tournament wasn’t lop-sided for four games on the trot because it actually works out at eight and that’s half the competition.
“Hopefully they can find a way for us to play more games when both teams are at [full] strength.”
So the performance and results of the last few weeks are mitigated by the quality of the players that were left at home. In truth, nobody was expecting a great deal from these mini tours but the lack of competitiveness is what should be alarming those tasked with making a success of Welsh rugby.
A more thorough analysis of the problems should be taking place and the ripples of these matches should be stirring boardrooms all along the M4 corridor into. This run of matches should prove to be a seminal moment for the game in Wales with many feeling that we can’t go on like this.
Does anyone have a plan to fix it? At present, it appears not. Directors of Rugby, who have to speak to the media on a weekly basis, are struggling to come up with them and we haven't heard from anyone of a higher rank in quite some time.
It seems the search for a way out of the malaise goes on.
As Cardiff boss Dai Young said recently: “When I came in a year ago, there was lots of talk that things were going to change imminently for the best of Welsh rugby, but we are a year down the line. All it has been is talk at the minute and I still haven’t seen anything.”
