After 15 years of success, Wales are now firmly back in world rugby's doldrums.

Sunday's 52-20 defeat to Australia in Cardiff is Wales' 11th loss on the bounce, their worst ever run without a win. Welsh rugby is in turmoil and it is very difficult to see a way out of its current predicament.

Head coach Warren Gatland is under huge pressure and there is no guarantee he will be in charge of Wales once the Six Nations comes along. To make matters worse, Wales welcome world champions South Africa to Cardiff next weekend and another defeat will ensure they are winless for an entire calendar year for the first time since 1937.

READ MORE: Welsh rugby in crisis as Warren Gatland on the brink: Live updates

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Rugby correspondent Steffan Thomas selects his winners and losers from another chastening weekend for Welsh rugby. You can follow live updates around Gatland's future here.

The Welsh rugby podcast: The fallout

Winners

Archie Griffin and the Wales scrum

There was only one area of Wales' game which succeeded and that was the scrum. Wales had the dominance at the set-piece, pushing Australia backwards and winning a couple of penalties in this area.

In fact Griffin gave the highly-rated Angus Bell such a hiding he forced Joe Schmidt to replace the Waratahs loosehead at half-time. Griffin also carried well around the park and looks to have a big future in the game.

Nicky Smith also made an impact in the scrum as a late replacement and surely deserves a start against South Africa next weekend. There were hardly any positives for Wales to take out of the game but the scrum was one of them.

But Wales will face a much sterner challenge against the Springboks in six days time.

Tom Rogers

Losing the powerful Mason Grady for the remainder of the Autumn Nations Series was far from ideal but Rogers proved to be more than an able deputy. The Scarlets wing was Wales' best player throughout and Wales would have certainly shipped more points if he was not on the field.

Rogers put in a tremendous try-saving tackle on Samu Kerevi in the first-half and shirked nothing in defence. The 25-year-old was excellent under the high ball and was never second best in the air while he looked dangerous with ball in hand.

Deserves a run of games at Test level and is somebody with a bright future.

Joe Schmidt

The way Schmidt has turned around Australia has been remarkable. A little over a year ago the Wallabies got dumped out of the pool stages of the Rugby World Cup for the first time ever.

Under Eddie Jones they had hit rock bottom but the appointment of the former Ireland coach has changed everything. Schmidt is a world class operator and while they are nowhere near the finished article they are most certainly on an upward trajectory.

The 59-year-old has got the Wallabies playing to their strengths and they are undoubtedly one of the best attacking sides in world rugby. Australia's physicality up front has improved tenfold from some of the limp displays we saw under Jones.

The Wallabies are back as a force and if the British & Irish Lions thought they were going to have an easy ride down under next summer they better think again.

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Losers

Warren Gatland

Wales' demise can't solely be laid at Gatland's door due to the myriad of other problems facing Welsh rugby but the head coach has to take a large portion of the responsibility. Under Gatland Wales have lost their last 11 Test matches and statistically are the worst Welsh side in history.

As a result it would be a surprise if the WRU weren't seriously considering Gatland's position as head coach. In the post match press conference Gatland admitted he had already spoken to WRU chairman Richard Collier-Keywood and executive director of rugby Nigel Walker.

"Whatever the best decision is for Welsh rugby is, I'm more than comfortable with that," said Gatland. "If that's about me going and that's the best decision, then make the decision.

"We'll talk about that and make that together." if Gatland does go the reality is his replacement will very likely find it tough going for a good few years due to the state of the game.

But it does appear as if Gatland may well have taken Wales as far as he can. "It's challenging at the moment, the most challenging it has been," admitted Gatland.

"It's probably taking in a little bit of today and reflecting on some stuff. I'll have a chat with a few people about what happens from here, with my wife - we have made lots of sacrifices as a family.

"I wouldn't be human if I didn't ask myself some questions, but I do it because I love being involved in the game. I have so many good memories of my time in Wales and the people and the friends I've made."

Welsh rugby powerbrokers

Gatland will come under severe pressure from both the WRU and the Welsh rugby public but there are others who must share in the blame. The start of Wales' demise can be traced back to former CEO Roger Lewis and his former financial director Steve Phillips, in my opinion.

When Wales were winning Six Nations grand slams and reaching World Cup semi-finals, the regional game and the pathway got neglected. A top-heavy approach saw Wales' four professional teams - Cardiff, Dragons, Ospreys and Scarlets - starved of much-needed funds. They never truly recovered.

For years the WRU have not invested enough in the professional game. There was a brief respite when Martyn Phillips was CEO, with the Scarlets winning the old PRO12 and Cardiff winning the Challenge Cup, but since Covid the WRU have reverted to type.

What many powerbrokers within the WRU failed to realise is without strong professional sides the rot would eventually spread upwards to the national side.

When the so-called golden generation came through they played in an era when the pro sides were strong with some top-end overseas players like Filo Tiatia, Marty Holah, Xavier Rush, Ben Blair, Regan King, David Lyons and Regan King, among others, plying their trades in Wales.

By the time the regions went downhill Wales already had a plethora of world class players who were excelling in the international arena. These days the likes of Cameron Winnett, Eddie James and Sam Costelow are playing for teams who have not got the resources to consistently compete in the cutting edge of competitions.

The current Wales side is a manifestation of the state of the professional game in Wales. Unless the WRU get serious and invest properly in this area of the game then Wales will remain in the doldrums at Test level.

Now is the time for some strong leadership from the current WRU board who need to make some very tough decisions to get the game back on track.

The Welsh pack

Wales' biggest problem on the field is their sheer lack of physicality. Gatland's men are not in the same stratosphere as virtually every other tier one nation.

Physically they got thrown from pillar to post by the Wallabies as they did against Fiji last Sunday. Wales lost the collisions by a country mile, while it was very much a case of men against boys.

Whenever Australia went through the phases they made significant metres, while for the most part Wales failed to make any headway. You can have the most naturally gifted backline in the world, if you lose the collisions to the extent Wales did yesterday then you aren't going to win a game of rugby.

Take a look at the world's best sides and their packs are full of explosive ball carriers who are capable of making significant post-contact metres. Wales haven't got anywhere near enough of those and if they are to somehow turn this around that is the first thing which needs to be fixed.

Mike Forshaw

Forshaw will surely have been furious with Wales' defence at times yesterday. No matter how hard they tried the fact is they shipped 52 points and eight tries., the most they have ever conceded at home against Australia.

That is never acceptable at Test level. During the first Gatland era when Shaun Edwards was in charge of the defence Wales had one of, if not the best, defences in world rugby.

They won Six Nations grand slams on the back of their defence rather than the attack. But the Wallabies didn't have to work particularly hard to score tries against Wales in Cardiff yesterday.

Wales clearly have a soft underbelly and are coughing up points far too easily. Gatland's men had a man advantage for 20 minutes of yesterday's Test match following Samu Kerevi's red card but the Wallabies scored three tries in that period.

As defence coach Forshaw has to take some responsibility for Wales' capitulation.