Outgoing interim Wales coach Matt Sherratt has said that the national side are in need of a “reset” after their woe deepened with a record defeat to England rugby.
The visitors ran in 10 tries on their way to a 68-14 thrashing, their biggest ever win in Cardiff, to keep their Six Nations title hopes alive.
The heavy loss extending the run of games without a Welsh win to 17 Tests, a horrible stretch that extends back to the 2023 Rugby World Cup.
Sherratt had instilled initial optimism after replacing Warren Gatland mid-tournament, but the final match of his three-game stint only served to underline the scale of the challenge facing his permanent successor.
The Cardiff coach, who will return to the capital club on Monday, suggested that a new head coach and director of rugby could be in place in the next “couple of weeks”.
But the incoming individuals have plenty to fix after successive wooden spoons for the men’s side.
“I just think they need support,” Sherratt said of the squad. “As I said, they're a good group of lads. There's some really good players in the room as well. They just need to try and reset.
“As you know, there's going to be some fresh appointments over the next couple of weeks. And I think it's just about resetting and trying to move forward as quickly as possible. Because today's disappointing. It's devastating for the players.
“I'm not going to get drawn on the state of Welsh rugby. We know where we are, I think. And it's about moving forward in the next couple of weeks.”
England’s power and physicality advantage was telling in Cardiff, with the visiting forwards on top throughout in virtually every facet.
Wales have recently had problems producing a pack capable of matching the best sides in the world, and Sherratt believes that the nation may have to do things a different way in order to compete.
The Cardiff coach explained: “I'm not a coach who's going to say we lack power. My job is to find a way, a different way. So perhaps as a nation, we've got our ball movement, better shape, try and get one v ones, play a faster game.
“It's not something you can coach, power, but you can coach the players to be technically better, play faster, get more one v ones, get more transitional moments. So it's not about power for me. You've got to find a way with what you've got.”
