Wales centre Jamie Roberts admits the last two weeks have been 'brutal' for Wales after they narrowly lost the semi-final to France before missing out again in the Bronze Final against Australia.

Talking soon after their 21-18 defeat by the Wallabies on Friday, the 2009 British & Irish Lion said it was tough to deal with the emotions after their superb quarter-final win against Ireland.

"The last two weeks have pretty brutal - you saw that rollercoaster of emotions I suppose," Roberts said.

"To go from the elation of the Ireland victory to the last two weeks has been very tough. We just need it to make us stronger - we need to take it on the chin and move forward."

Roberts insists there were positives for Wales, encompassed by the huge support they found from Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.

"I think we've gone away with a feeling that we can compete with the best ... and we've got a good mindset that we can take on to the next couple of years," he added.

"If we get things right we'll put teams like this away but we made too many basic errors tonight [against Australia]."

"At the end of the day we haven't beaten a Southern Hemisphere team down here. We spoke about taking the next step and beating a Southern Hemisphere team away."

Wales will face Australia at the Millennium Stadium in a one-off game in December, in what promised to be winger Shane Williams' final cap for his country.
 

 

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