Wales rugby: Issues for Steve Tandy as Louis Rees-Zammit returns

Managing expectations and dealing with the reactions to a record defeat is one of the first things Tandy will have to deal with.

It is tricky to balance another humbling record home defeat, and losing your best player in Morgan, with some renewed hope about the attack.

Shipping a record number of points and losing by the largest margin against Argentina reinforces where Wales are after a disastrous couple of years and why there is need for change.

The Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) has announced they are cutting a professional side but have no proposed timetable yet on when that will occur or how they can achieve their goal.

The difference in class between the two sides shows how the gap has widened in recent years.

Tandy admitted afterwards there will be no silver bullet surrounding the on-the-field issues.

This assessment has been backed up by former internationals who point out this was Tandy’s first game in charge and he has had less than two weeks with his new squad.

Put simply, people want Tandy to succeed.

“Argentina have played some world-class rugby over the last few months, while Wales are also a new group coming together,” former Wales scrum-half Richie Rees told BBC Radio Wales.

“People have got to be invested for the long term. There’s a good core group of players, but we’ve got to understand where we are in the pecking order at the moment. There is no quick fix and it will take time.”

Former Wales captain Gwyn Jones agreed.

“There is optimism around Steve and his side after two years of suffering,” Jones told S4C.

“In those two years, there wasn’t any attacking or creative rugby.

“Today, we saw aspects of the team improving but it shows it’s a long-term project, there is a lot of coaching to do.

“That’s the magnitude of the task but everyone is behind them wanting them to succeed.”