Shaun Edwards: Wales defence coach accepts share of blame after Australia loss

Shaun Edwards has been Wales defence coach since 2008

Wales defence coach Shaun Edwards has accepted his share of the blame for the 32-8 defeat by Australia.

Wales conceded five tries in their worst autumn defeat since the 45-10 loss against New Zealand in 2006 .

"Stephen Larkham [Australia attack coach] got the better of me on the day," Edwards said.

Wales have dropped to seventh in World Rugby's rankings after a fifth consecutive Test match defeat and their 12th in a row against Australia.

"I'll hold my hands up. But I'm a determined person. We need to muscle up on the gain line. Muscling up will give us extra defensive line speed," added Edwards.

"I've never seen stats so dominant in one side's favour. We conceded three tries, it could have been more.

"It's incredibly difficult. There are more and more tries being scored in modern day rugby but we can defend better than we did and I'm incredibly determined.

"The tackling wasn't too bad. First and foremost we lost the advantage line."

Wales have not won an international match since beating Italy 67-14 in the 2016 Six Nations in March

Australia led 20-3 at half time after claiming more than 80% possession in a dominant display.

Wales rallied after the break, but Edwards concedes there will need to be further improvement before the game with Argentina on Saturday, 12 November.

"I asked the tight five forwards to do more on the gain line in the second half and I think we started looking like a normal Wales defence," Edwards added.

"Let's hope we can do that from minute one against the Pumas.

"I expect a response. We got one at half time [against Australia] actually.

"We're playing a top eight ranked team. A team that play in the Rugby Championship. I couldn't think of a better fixture to bounce back after not a great performance against Australia."