HOOKER Ken Owens pulled no punches in his after-match assessment of Wales’ performance against Australia in Cardiff on Saturday.

The hooker and his teammates will be licking their wounds this week following the Wallabies’ five-try 32-8 win at a stunned Principality Stadium.

“We were probably not at the races,” said Owens. “We’d trained at a decent intensity and we just haven’t delivered.

“We obviously didn’t get any ball (in the first half), which was hugely frustrating.

"They attacked very well and we failed to match them and meet them on the gain line.

“They got the momentum, and there was something like an 80/20 split in terms of possession in the first half, and in Test match rugby you are not going to get anything with that sort of deficit.

“We need to front-up, put a good shift in during the week and then have a massive Test against Argentina next Saturday.

“All we can do now is learn the lessons of this week and turn up.”

Australia starved Wales of the ball before the break, crossing three times to lead 20-3 going into the second half, before scoring twice after the interval to seal a comfortable victory.

Owens added: “History suggests we get better as a campaign goes on.

“They have been playing international rugby, we’ve been playing club rugby, but we’ve had a fortnight of training at international Test level, so we can’t use that as an excuse.

“A lot of it is winning that gain line, and they held on to the ball and played the territory much better than us. It felt on the pitch that we didn’t win the battle of the gain line.”

But Owens believes Wales can bounce back in time for the visit of Argentina this Saturday.

“It’s doable,” he said. “We were frustrated with how the England game went before we went to New Zealand and we played very well in the first and second Tests, and we have got to do that this week, and do it quickly.

“Argentina are on a bit of a roll. They’ve beaten Japan and had a good Rugby Championship again, and they are going to be coming here for a win, so we are going to have to turn up, get momentum into our game and deliver.”