Ruddock and his squad returned from a three-match tour of Argentina and South Africa on Monday, with the coach saying the extensive travel and high altitude proved costly in the 18-53 mauling by the Springboks in Pretoria on Saturday.
“We’re obviously disappointed we lost the last Test as poorly as we did, but even a top athlete would struggle to compete well in Argentina and then go to the high veldt in South Africa and compete well there.
“Ireland won the Triple Crown and were in camp in South Africa for three weeks. They had a first-string team, but they were well beaten in both Tests.
“Before the tour, we would have settled for two out of four and if you count the Barbarians match as part of the package, we won two out of four.
“We haven’t beaten the Barbarians for a while and we haven’t won away from home for a while, and we achieved both of those things.”
Eight players – Barry Davies, Nathan Brew, Tal Selley, Andy Williams, Steve Jones, Rhys Thomas, Peter Sidoli and Richie Pugh – didn’t get a run on the tour, and Ruddock said in hindsight he should have tested one or two of them against South Africa.
“If I’d had a crystal ball and foreseen that a couple of the guys wouldn’t be up to it on Saturday, I could have started a couple of the younger guys, but it wasn’t something I was keen to do.
“We’ve beaten South Africa once in 125 years, we’d just come over from a hard tour of Argentina and we were at altitude, so I don’t think it would have been the best place for a young player to start his international career.
“Having said that, the tour wasn’t a waste of time for those boys and they’ll be in the mix for the four autumn games.”
