England humbling a game too far for ‘emotional’ Wales

Interim Wales head coach Matt Sherratt admitted Saturday’s record home defeat to England was “a game too many” as he stressed the players needed support and a reset to get back to winning ways.

England were superior from start to finish at the Principality Stadium, running in 10 tries to canter to a 68-14 victory in what was the final match of Sherratt’s short-term spell.

The Cardiff boss insisted the size of the loss would not impact the way he viewed his four weeks in charge or the fact he feels improvements have been made in that time.

However, Sherratt admitted events during the Guinness Six Nations, which included the departure of previous coach Warren Gatland, had taken their toll on the squad.

“It looked like a game too many didn’t it,” he said after Wales fell to a 17th consecutive Test defeat. “As well, we’ve got to be aware probably the last seven to eight weeks have been pretty emotional.

“The playing group has been through a fair bit, and the staff, and little things went against us in the game today and it probably opened up some wounds.

“So, we came up against a good England side and, yeah, little things didn’t go our way either.”

Sherratt added: “I just think they need support. As I said, they’re a good group of lads, there’s some really good players in the room as well.

“They just need to try and reset and as you know there’s going to be some fresh appointments over the next couple of weeks and I think it’s just about resetting and trying to move forward as quickly as possible because today is disappointing, it’s devastating for the players.”

Sherratt will return to Cardiff now the championship is over with the Welsh Rugby Union due to appoint a new director of rugby and head coach to take the team forward.

“There’s a reset going on,” Sherratt said. “There’s going to be a new director of rugby, a new head coach and I think the next camp has to feel fresh for the players.”