A DEVASTATED Dan Lydiate admitted Wales’ disappointing defeat just wasn’t good enough as they slumped to their tenth loss in their last 15 games.
Head coach Warren Gatland’s record now shows just 17 wins in 38 games after starting with five straight victories on the way to the 2008 Grand Slam.
Some pundits are predicting Wales will have another humiliating World Cup experience in the autumn and will crash out at the group stages.
Straight-talking Newport Gwent Dragons blindside flanker Lydiate, who had another accomplished game in winning his 11th cap, is under no illusion that Wales have to stop the rot with their alarming form.
“It’s about closing out games,’’ the 23-year-old said after Gatland’s men were stunned by late scores from the Baa-baas’ French centre Mathieu Bastareaud and their Fijian and Leinster full back Isa Nacewa.
“But we didn’t do it, and we got punished. We definitely need to sort it out.
“It was frustrating, and we are gutted, to be honest. We let it slip again, and we just can’t switch off in these games.’’ Lydiate added: “The Barbarians like to throw it about, but it was up to us to play our structures. We have only ourselves to blame if we got too loose. We needed to look after what we needed to do.
“They were chucking it about, but there was no need for us to. Sometimes it’s hard because you do get carried away in that sort of style of play, but the emphasis has to be just on ourselves. No-one likes losing – it’s not good enough.
“We are going out to the World Cup to do a job, and we can’t have lapses in concentration. We need to play for 80 minutes in every game.’’
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