MAYBE the optimists are right and this time next year we will be reflecting on the scrum that laid the foundations for a successful campaign at the World Cup.

When Wales turned over the ball five metres from their own line against South Africa they were able to clear and secure a win that suddenly turned their below-average autumn into a positive one.

One thing is for certain from the ugly 12-6 success, the squad have written themselves into the history books.

The number of players that have taken to the field in a Welsh win against the Springboks has gone from 18 to 35 from 1,117 internationals.

When the next edition of Howard Evans' excellent and invaluable Welsh International Matches book comes out it won't state that the Boks were a complete and utter shambles, it will simply record the stats of a victory to add to the 1999 success.

Wales have endured plenty of 'if only' moments over the past few years so it was nice for the Springboks to experience one. Perhaps if Handre Pollard had made touch with four minutes left they would have barged over from their well-drilled lineout rather than being shunted back at the scrum, where they had endured a tough afternoon.

But the Welsh victory must be enjoyed in isolation rather than being seen as a signal of the tide turning.

Warren Gatland stated after the game that his side had "wounded one of the big beasts" but it was not a performance that will fill New Zealand, Australia or even South Africa with fear.

The trio have always respected the physical approach of Wales and they always select their best side when they head to Cardiff. But the big three also know that if they are on their game then they will take the spoils – a combined record of played 28, won 26 when going up against Gatland's Wales shows that.

There was little in the Wales performance against the Springboks that will change their mind and they know that the Gatland blueprint is highly unlikely to change dramatically before the World Cup.

I believe that Heyneke Meyer would have been more worried about after needing a late penalty try to edge a one-point win in Nelspruit in June than he was after seeing his abject side suffer a six-point loss in Cardiff. He will be pretty confident that his players won't be as bad as that again.

The Wales performance wasn't great on Saturday but suddenly talk of the autumn being a stepping stone towards 2015, putting the hard graft in on the training paddock and what not, has been shelved in favour of it being all about getting over the line.

Perhaps Wales will be refreshed after getting over a mental barrier against a big gun, but the same thing was said after a sizeable contingent enjoyed success Down Under with the Lions.

Yes, they are a World Cup contender in the same way as Ireland, France and England but, to quote Nigel Owens, this is not soccer and there is a pretty small pool of leading nations.

Some realism is needed about what would represent success next year and at this stage getting out of a group with England and Australia would be a good effort whereas a repeat of the 2011 journey to the semi-final would be excellent.

There were plenty of good things from the autumn – the magnificence of skipper Sam Warburton, the emergence of Scarlets forwards Samson Lee and Jake Ball plus Ospreys half-backs Rhys Webb and Dan Biggar establishing themselves on the Test scene – but Wales were a pushover try from it being the same old story last weekend, so let's not get carried away.