Kiwi coach isn’t making the best out of this Wales team, but his troubled reign could finally force the country to confront the state they are in

Two years, four months, and a lifetime ago, a Wales team not so very different from the one that will be on the field on Saturday beat the Springboks 13-12 in Bloemfontein. A lot of good Welsh sides have tried and failed to win in South Africa in the 60 years they’ve been touring. That team, coached by Wayne Pivac, and captained by Dan Biggar, were the first and only one to do it. They might even have won the series except the ifs and buts went against them in the first Test at Loftus Versfeld the previous week, when they lost 32-29 after Damian Willemse kicked a penalty in the final minute.

Wales have fallen a long way in very little time. This time last autumn, or near enough, they were 10-6 up against Argentina at half-time in the quarter-finals of the World Cup. They lost 29-17, and haven’t won a Test since bar an-end-of-season match against the Barbarians. That’s 11 straight defeats. Almost everyone reckons it will be 12 by the time of the final whistle in their match against South Africa on Saturday. A couple of bookmakers have the Springboks at 100-1 on, which is a consequence of the funereal gloom that surrounds Welsh rugby now.