Players to blame for Boks defeat, says Byrne

LEE BYRNE left no doubt where the buck must stop following Wales’ latest painful failure to capture a coveted Tri- Nations scalp.

For the 38th time in 42 Tests during rugby union’s professional era, Wales finished second best against a southern hemisphere superpower, despite outscoring world champions South Africa on tries for the first time in 25 meetings.

“It must be frustrating for Warren as a coach,” Byrne said. “But you can’t put the blame on the coaches – it’s just us (players) at the end of the day. We’ve got to learn to manage a game when we go up by that many points. In the past we would have gone into that game possibly expecting a defeat, but now we are expecting victories.