THE glum expressions said it all.

Wales coach Steve Hansen did not need telling that his side had under performed, dramatically so at the line outs, and with a tour to South Africa on the horizon, there is little for Welsh players and fans to cheer about.

A poor game of rugby was illuminated by the occasional glimpse of brilliance, best summed up by the fact that one of the best executed moves seen all afternoon was the Mexican Wave generated by the fans.

With just one win against Italy to show for their 2002 Six Nations campaign, Wales have suffered a Five Nations whitewash and not since they were trounced 51-0 at Wembley in 1998 have Wales been at such a low ebb.

They went on to receive a record 96-13 slaughtering by South Africa at the Loftus Versfeld and Hansen's side has much to do to avoid suffering a repetition.

He said: "It was a very disappointing day, it's irrelevant that we are second from last in the Six Nations, we didn't perform anywhere near our capabilities and that is the most frustrating thing about the game."

The statistic of seven line-outs lost shows where the problem began, as Scots lock Scott Murray enjoyed a comfortable afternoon to win man of the match.

Hansen said: "He's probably the best in the world at what he does and deserved his man of the match award, but like anything else in life when it doesn't work for you, you start losing your confidence, which went down the whole line out and made Scott's life easier. It's something we have to go away and work on.

"We need to have a re-think and come back with a renewed line-out. We couldn't win any ball, the line-outs probably cost us the game, if you can't control your set-pieces you can't control the game. We lost our composure and confidence and it became an ugly rugby match."

Hansen is under no illusions about the task ahead and said yesterday's meeting of the Welsh clubs to decide the number of professional clubs in Wales could help him: "We need to create a competitive environment where we don't reward mediocrity."

Wales captain Colin Charvis went off with a knock on the knee and ankle, but he was clearly feeling more discomfort with the defeat.

He said: "It was extremely disappointing, we tried our hardest but you have to give credit to Scotland, they made life very tough for us.

"I was happy to be captain once, if I'm fortunate enough to do it again then I'll relish the moment, but it's important now to aim for the Barbarians game and concentrate on the South Africa tour."