New Welsh coach Warren Gatland has told caretaker coach Nigel Davies that he would like to see the side get back to basics.

While the Welsh have forged a profound try-scoring ability in recent seasons, Gatland has told Davies that needs to be backed by more solid basics.

However, he has still given the caretaker coach free rein for the game against South Africa on Saturday.

"We have spoken at some length about rugby issues," Davies said of a 45-minute meeting he had with Gatland.

"He spoke about his approach to the game.

"That's based around a good set-piece, good defence and doing the basics well. He felt Wales had performed well and scored tries but that the contact area was something we needed to improve," Davies said.

He added that he had agreed with most of what Gatland had to say during the meeting.

"Warren will bring something new and I look forward to seeing what he does. I really wish him all the best because he is a decent guy.

"There is still a lot of good stuff that happened to this squad. If you can ally that to getting the basics right, everything will be okay," he said.