Gatland confident Wales can transform fortunes after Australia series defeat

Gatland confident Wales can transform fortunes after Australia series defeat

Wales recorded a ninth straight defeat after their series loss to Australia, but Warren Gatland has seen promise from his young squad.

Warren Gatland remains optimistic his young Wales side can turn into a "really good team" despite their series defeat to Australia.

Wales' losing streak extended to nine matches on Saturday as Filipo Daugunu scored two tries to secure a 36-28 triumph for the Wallabies in Melbourne.

Gatland's men were punished early on as their opponents raced into a 17-0 lead but showed grit and determination to get back into the contest before the break. 

However, Wales' mistakes proved costly as Daugunu sealed the win with 12 minutes remaining, leaving the Dragons without victory in Melbourne since 1969. 


Head coach Gatland believes his young side will be able to turn their losing streak around if they cut out those key mistakes. 

"We worked so hard for our points today and we're showing a little bit of inexperience in terms of how we've gifted them points," Gatland told Sky Sports.


"It's frustrating but I can't question how hard the boys work. We need to be honest with ourselves in terms of how we allowed them some soft tries.

"When you look at the tries they've [Australia] scored, it's a bounce of a ball or something's happened, so that's disappointing. First half, I felt the guys kept trying, we scored a couple of nice tries and gave ourselves a chance to win the game.

"We've got a group of young men who have been excellent, and they've just got to learn from those experiences and be more accurate in big moments.

"I'm telling you, this is going to be a really good team. They're working incredibly hard and there's a good buzz within this group. We just probably need to be a little bit more streetwise.

"I think they'll learn a lot from this tour and they've got the autumn to look forward to and then the Six Nations."

Wales will now prepare for their upcoming Test fixture with Fiji in November, with the pressure mounting on Gatland following a poor run of results.

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