WHISPER it quietly but Wales appear to finally have found the knack of sneaking tight games. Now they just have to try and kick the habit of scrambling to defend their line at the death.

Warren Gatland’s mantra has long been that he wants Wales to go up against the southern hemisphere big guns so that they can learn from the best.

A record of played 28, won 2 suggests that it has been a slow process.

It has been a reign characterised by narrow defeats, suffering at the death against the Wallabies and Springboks and seeing the All Blacks stretch away in the closing stages.

Yet Wales have been on the right side of tense thrillers since Bernard Foley broke their hearts in Cardiff last autumn.

Ten of 14 internationals since this time last year have been settled by a score or less with the Six Nations clash with England and that loss to the Aussies their only gut-wrenching disappointments.

Against the Boks they survived a late five-metre scrum, against France in Paris they manfully defended inside their 22, in Dublin in August they held Sean Cronin up over the line while in the Six Nations clash they kept out an Irish driving lineout.

And then there was last Saturday when England’s odd decision to go for the corner was followed by the even more baffling front of the lineout throw, enabling Wales to drive them into touch. Even then they were thankful for a Richard Wigglesworth knock-on that allowed them to hold on to their three-point advantage.

Gatland’s men are currently second in the World Rugby rankings but few would argue they are the main challengers to the All Blacks.

If they are to develop into a truly great side then they need to not only come on strong in the closing stages but manage games at the other end in the final throws.

Too frequently they have been put in backs-to-the-wall situations by indiscipline or errors as the clock approaches 80 minutes.

Wales can ill afford to do that against the Aussies at Twickenham a week on Saturday or if they do manage to finish the job and secure a return to ‘HQ’ for the knockout stages.

Welshmen who have endured a year of tense finales need their players develop the ability to keep opponents at arm’s length in the final seconds.

WALES have a lengthy injury list before they take to the field against the hard-hitting Fijians but the spine of their team is in good shape.

In lock Alun Wyn Jones, number eight Taulupe Faletau, fly-half Dan Biggar and centre Jamie Roberts, Warren Gatland has four players who would certainly be in contention for a European XV and mentioned when discussing a world XV.

The heartbeat of the side, the back row, has four wonderful options in Dan Lydiate, Sam Warburton, Faletau and Justin Tipuric while Liam Williams isn’t exactly a bad deputy for Leigh Halfpenny at 15.

Wales are still clinging on in there but sadly one fears that their hopes of at least repeating their heroics of 2011 could be shattered by the quality and quantity of the absentees.

The win against England was so special because of the list of those watching events at Twickenham from the sidelines and on television.

But Wales are at absolute breaking point. They could perhaps cope with a lock, hooker or back row forward going down but nowhere else.