Sunday rugby news as Wales left 'embarrassed' from Italy inquest and determined to right the wrongs versus Springboks

These are your rugby headlines on the morning of Sunday, June 26

Wayne Pivac admits his players and staff were embarrassed by defeat to Italy in the final game of the Six Nations and are desperate to right some wrongs in South Africa.

Wales went down 22-21 after a late Italian score in Cardiff and have had to wait over three months to have another crack in the Test arena. It was a dismal result that brought the curtain down on an underwhelming campaign, with pressure being piled on the Wales boss.

They now face the daunting task of taking on the world champions across three Test matches in their own backyard – starting in Pretoria this Saturday.

“I hope we’re going to be a lot better than our last game! I say that with a smile on our face but, look, we were embarrassed by that last performance, there’s no hiding from that.

“The players have spoken about it, the management have spoken about it. We’re a better team than that, we know that. So we need to go out and show that now in the first Test and then back it up in the second and third.

“We’re looking at the positives that came out of the last tournament. There are obviously areas of the game that we have to tidy up and make sure we don’t make similar mistakes, particularly in the Italy match – and be a lot better than the opening match against Ireland.”

He added: “Nobody likes finishing on a sour note or a poor performance. It’s a long time between drinks, as they say. History says that we haven’t done well there, clearly. In some camps you’d say you’ve got everything to gain and nothing to lose.

“But from our point of view, we got the last one wrong. We’re doing everything to make sure we get this one right. We’ll be going out there, not with a careless attitude,