Davies remains optimistic

Caretaker Nigel Davies feels incoming coach Warren Gatland will inherit a Wales team with plenty of promise.

Caretaker sees plenty of promise in his youthful Wales side

Wales caretaker coach Nigel Davies insists there is cause for optimism despite seeing his youthful side soundly beaten by world champions South Africa in Cardiff on Saturday. Davies will now surrender the coaching reins to the incoming Warren Gatland and feels he is handing over a side rich in promise to the New Zealander. "What we have seen this afternoon is passion, endeavour and effort from Wales," he stated. "I was hugely proud of how the boys went about their business.

"We showed a bit of a lack of ability to finish chances off from the number of line breaks we created. "This is a good team going forward and some of the performances like Morgan Stoddart, who put his hand up and showed what he could do, and Robin Sowden-Taylor, Gavin Henson, Gethin Jenkins and Jonathan Thomas. "It was a good effort but we aren't clinical at this stage. We have laid the foundation. "We need to go forward as a nation. If you look at the game, we were in it but defensively we have to step up a couple of notches. "This is the end of an era and the start of another and this is the basis of a good team going forward. "We can't accept mediocrity and we won't. In general terms I cannot fault the passion or the commitment. "The Springboks showed how clinical they are as a team and their ability to play without the ball." Davies himself faces an uncertain future with Gatland's arrival now just around the corner - and was coy when quizzed on what that future might hold. "I haven't given it much thought but I will now," he added. "I haven't got much to say on the subject." In what was outgoing World Cup winning coach Jake White's final Test in charge of the Springboks, South Africa ran in five tries to Wales' two to lift the Prince William Cup.