Wales players must share responsibility for defeats

Dewi Lake has played 16 internationals for Wales

Autumn Nations Series: Wales v Australia

Venue: Principality Stadium, Cardiff Date: Sunday, 17 November Kick off: 16:10 GMT

Coverage: Live on S4C, BBC Radio Wales, Radio Cymru, live text and commentary on the BBC Sport website and app

Wales captain Dewi Lake insists the players take responsibility for their losing streak as pressure grows on Warren Gatland.

The head coach has faced growing criticism following a 10th Test defeat in a row.

Wales face Australia on Sunday aiming to avoid the worst run of results in Welsh rugby history.

Lake, 25, knows only the players on the pitch can ultimately dig the team out of this rut.

Asked if the players feel responsible for the pressure on Gatland, Lake replied: "Yes, of course. Gats isn’t on the field is he?

"They [the coaches] give us the best platform to go and perform and we should have comfortably won that game against Fiji.

"The pressure is on all of us as a group when we’re on a losing run like we are. We’re all feeling it.

"Of course it hurts. We don’t go out to lose but at some point we need to flip that."

Wales have lost every Test match of 2024 so far and have not gone an entire calendar year without a win since 1937, when they played just three matches.

That has prompted former players, such as Jamie Roberts, Mike Phillips and Tom Shanklin, to criticise Gatland and in some cases, question his future.

The head coach has tried to divert attention from the players onto himself and Lake admits the challenge is to prevent a young team retreating into their shells amid the weight of expectation.

"We’ve spoken as a group about still trying to enjoy the moment and playing with the shackles off," said Lake.

"But it is difficult because you can't help thinking if anything goes wrong, that’s going to come back on me.

"There’s always an edge around camp with boys fighting for places and for every inch.

"Nothing has changed from our work from last week but we need to tighten up our discipline and be more clinical."

Those have been recurring themes throughout this miserable year for Wales.

'Not being battered'

In the 10 defeats so far, half of those have been by eight points or less, which is something Wales are clinging onto, that they are not that far from turning the tables.

"We know we’re a good enough team to get results. We can take confidence from wins like that over Australia at the World Cup and even the summer," said Lake.

"Teams aren’t battering us. We've been one score away from being on the right side of the result, so we know we're close.

"Teams have gone on losing runs before. In 2002-03, Wales went on the same run and then 18 months later won a Grand Slam."

Right now, Wales would just take a win.