Mike Phillips has called for Wales to be stronger mentally against New Zealand

Wales scrum-half Mike Phillips have offered no excuses for the team's poor form and called on his team-mates to be stronger mentally.

The 2012 Grand Slam winners are yet to win one of their Autumn Series internationals after following up their stunning defeat to Argentina by losing to Samoa on Friday night.
Next up for Wales on Saturday evening are world champions New Zealand, who have scored 93 points and 11 tries in victories over Scotland and Italy.

 

One try in two games highlights how far Wales' renowned attacking game has fallen, but Phillips is staying positive that the World Cup semi-finalists can get their act together.
"I don't want to offer excuses because we are bigger than that," said Phillips.
"We know we are going to get a lot of flak now, but it's important that we show we can stand up to people. We have to be strong.
"It is quite a young group and a lot of them wouldn't have experienced something like this, but the senior players have, and we can bounce back.
"We've done it in the past and we can do it again.
"We have had a lot of injuries, which has been unfortunate, but we can't look for excuses. These things make you stronger and we have to be positive and learn from this."

Basics

Wales' 26-19 loss to Samoa means the nation are five Tests without a win since they beat the Barbarians on June 2 - one more defeat would make it their longest losing run for 10 years.
Phillips knows their display in Friday's 26-19 defeat was not up to scratch and that it is important the team start getting the basics right.
"You have to get the basics of rugby right," he continued. "We have to improve these things.
"We are obviously devastated. It was really poor (against Samoa) and we just weren't good enough.
"There were too many errors, our discipline wasn't good enough and we gave away too many penalties. They came to spoil the breakdown and kick the ball, but it's just really disappointing.
"The players on the pitch have to stand up. We are making silly mistakes, dropping the ball, giving silly penalties away. It is fine margins, and it's the players that have to stand up."
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