Jonathan Thomas surveyed the wreckage of Wales’ worst home defeat for two years and admitted: “We are embarrassed.”
Red shirts were matched by red faces as Australia waltzed away with a hopelessly one-sided encounter through an exhibition of running rugby that was often pure gold.
The 33-12 scoreline and a 4-0 try count hardly did justice to Australia’s dominance.
It could, and probably should, have been even worse for a Welsh side smashed in the scrums, outclassed in attack and battered into submission by an unforgiving Wallabies defence.
Boos rang around the Millennium Stadium as a dejected, demoralised Wales outfit trooped off, having suffered the second-heaviest loss of coach Warren Gatland’s 22-Test reign.
“As a group of players we are embarrassed to put on a performance like that,” said Ospreys forward Thomas, whose 50th cap milestone provided scant consolation.
“It is something we can’t allow to happen again. It was very fast and very physical, but it is always like that when you play against the top tier nations.
“We have played enough Tests as a group that we knew what to expect.
“We lost a lot of 50-50s in the air, we lost a lot of contact situations on the floor. We lost the battle, full stop.
“It is usually the hungrier side that wins the 50-50 battles – Test match rugby is a test of who wants to win the game most on the day.
“We obviously went into the game extremely motivated. We are a battle-hardened group of players, and we haven’t had too many results like that.”
Not since November 2007, when South Africa scored five tries during a 34-12 destruction, had Wales suffered such a calamity in their Cardiff citadel.
And the scars were physical as well as mental, with three of Wales’ 2009 Lions – Shane Williams, Matthew Rees and Leigh Halfpenny – forced off injured inside the first 30 minutes.
