Wales captain Gareth Thomas wants the injury-hit Six Nations champions to show character when they face South Africa at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff on Saturday.
November has proved a poor month so far for the European grand-slam holders with an unconvincing 11-10 win over Fiji on Friday following a 41-3 thrashing by Tri-Nations kings New Zealand.
To make matters worse for Wales, they will be without several leading players for their match with the Springboks. British and Irish Lions Tom Shanklin, Gavin Henson, Ryan Jones and Gethin Jenkins were already sidelined.
Meanwhile, lock Brent Cockbain has a hamstring injury that requires surgery and scrumhalf Dwayne Peel is battling to be fit following an Achilles-tendon problem.
The injuries have seen coach Mike Ruddock call up an additional five players to train with the squad this week in Dafydd James, Andy Williams, Ben Broster, Ian Evans and Andy Powell.
But fullback Thomas, who skippered the Lions in the last two Tests of their 3-0 series defeat in New Zealand in July following Brian O’Driscoll’s shoulder injury, was in defiant mood.
”I am not going to make excuses regarding injury or lack of preparation, because that is all it is — excuses,” he said on Monday, a day before Ruddock was due to name his side for this weekend’s match.
”We have got to get totally stuck in, it is a massive week for us, and this is the kind of thing that I love about international rugby, especially being captain, the fact that now we will be written off.
”There is no better thing in sport, as far as I am concerned — to show your character when everyone writes you off and puts you in a corner.
”It is up to you to fight your way out of it, and I believe as a team it is about showing your character, both as a rugby player and as a person.”
Wales conclude their pre-Christmas programme against Australia in Cardiff on November 26 where, for all the Wallabies’ scrum problems, they will be up against one of the most impressive back divisions in world rugby.
Claiming a major southern-hemisphere scalp would be a huge boost for Wales, who begin the defence of their Six Nations title away to world champions England at Twickenham in February.
But the signs are not encouraging and Thomas, who was given leave to miss the Fiji game so he could play for his club side, Toulouse, in the French Championship, said a big improvement is needed.
”I managed to watch the last 10 or 15 minutes of the Fiji game, and I thought that if the whole match had been like that, then Wales should have won by 30 or 40 points.
”But there was a lot of ball going down and a lot of handling errors, and sometimes you have days like that — it does happen.
”I am glad that we had one of those days last week, and hopefully we won’t have one this week. South Africa pride themselves on their defence; they’ve got a big kicking game and they play to their strengths.
”They are a physical team, they intimidate, they use a blitz defence and they are going to be in our faces, so it is up to us to counteract it really and play the game we know we can play.
”In the modern game, you know what to expect because you do your analysis on your opponents, but watching them in their previous game and playing against them is two totally different things.”
He added: ”I can’t really put my finger on where we have been struggling. We are missing big players and we are missing big characters off the field, and the players who have come in will understand if I say they are a loss.
”But I will never say we are missing them that much, because it would be totally going against myself as a captain. I will never say we miss them to a point where we are not as good a team.” — Sapa-AFP