Rugby-Gatland pleased team is improving despite losses

By Greg Stutchbury WELLINGTON, June 18 (Reuters) - Wales coach Warren Gatland's week from hell ended with a 36-22 loss to the All Blacks in the second of their three tests at Wellington Regional Stadium on Saturday, though he still found some positives from the series loss. Gatland endured a tough grilling from British media after his side lost the first test 39-21 in Auckland last Saturday before they were hammered 40-7 by an under-strength Waikato Chiefs team in Hamilton on Tuesday. The Chiefs match had been scheduled to give some of the less experienced members of his side the opportunity to push for test spots and gain familiarity with what is needed to perform at the top-level. However, the game, which left several first choice players to back up three days after the first test, only drew heavy criticism for the Wales side and their management. Gatland's test team managed to stifle some of that criticism on Saturday after they battled to keep up with a high-tempo All Blacks side in the first half. They received some consolation for their efforts with two late tries. "I'm pretty proud of that performance. There were two or three key moments in the game and that was the difference between us and them," Gatland told reporters after his side fought back from a 36-10 deficit with 10 minutes remaining. "We kept playing and put them under some pressure at the end. For me the big thing was that we said we would get better the more time we spent together and we have." The former All Blacks hooker made no secret he felt this tour was also about trying to change the way they played the game to one that was more expansive and building some depth in his pool of international players. In both tests so far the visitors have attempted to play an open game, giving the ball some width and trying to stretch the All Blacks defence across the park. The home side, however, have rarely been stretched on defence and if Gatland's side are to at least narrow the gap between them they must ensure they do not give the ball away cheaply and shut down the world champions' counter attack. "I would hope that we could take the lessons from these two last weeks," Gatland said. "We will go down to Dunedin knowing that we have improved from the first test to the second and thinking we can get better next week." (Editing by xxxxx)