Wales head coach Warren Gatland says the record defeat to world champions South Africa has answered questions ahead of selecting his 33-man World Cup squad on Monday.

It was an inexperienced Wales team brutally exposed by South Africa.

"It's made it easier for our discussion tonight about some of the questions we had," said Gatland.

"We will go back to the hotel tonight and sit down as coaches and hopefully finalise it. If we need to have more discussion we can hopefully do that tomorrow morning."

Gatland admitted Wales had been comprehensively outmuscled in the 52-16 loss.

"It was disappointing, I thought we were dominated physically on both sides of the ball," said Gatland.

"We'd spoken to the players about the physicality they'd bring and playing against the world champions who have just come out of a Rugby Championship.

"The only positive I can take is there's hopefully there's a lot of learning that some of those players will have got from today."

Gatland was content with the performance of Dragons wing Rio Dyer who impressed, despite being shown a yellow card in the first half for deliberately knocking the ball out on play which yielded a penalty try.

"Defensively he's definitely got better, he was good in the air and made a couple of nice breaks," said Gatland.

"I don't think he should have had a yellow card or it's a penalty try.

"He's a player over the last 12 months who has made a lot of progression. He's getting better internationally and he'll continue to improve."

Selection issues

Fly-half Gareth Anscombe, wing Alex Cuthbert and number eight Taulupe Faletau are the only members of the 48-man squad not to feature in the warm up games.

Gatland can only take a certain number of players carrying injuries but said Anscombe and Faletau have experience on their side.

"They are in contention because they are experienced," said Gatland.

"If they were young players it would be very difficult to select them but given their vast amount of experience they will be in the discussions."

Hookers Dewi Lake and Ryan Elias, lock Dafydd Jenkins and back-row forward Taine Plumtree suffered injuries during Wales' home and away appointments with England.

Cuthbert (calf), fly-half Dan Biggar (back) and full-back Liam Williams (hamstring) pulled out of the South Africa match because of minor injuries that were labelled "precautionary".

"Dan was fine today and Liam could have played," said Gatland.

"Part of the thing we wanted to do was everyone take part in training this week to build confidence.

"Having trained, we decided that, given we've got some guys with niggles, it wasn't worth the risk."

Wales face Fiji in the World Cup opening game in Bordeaux on 10 September before further group games against Portugal, Australia and Georgia.

And Gatland admitted the Springboks result will test the confidence of his squad.

"When you have a defeat like that it's about how do you look at the positives when you are reviewing it as a group," said Gatland.

"There's some easy fixes in terms of probably four or five of those tries are easy enough to stop and then all of a sudden there's a different complexion on the game.

"We wanted to give everybody an opportunity and find out about players. A large amount of those would have learned a hell of a lot from that experience."

'Keep faith with Wales'

South Africa captain Siya Kolisi, who returned to action after four months out with a knee injury, urged the Welsh public to keep the faith with the side and praised the performance of Wales captain Jac Morgan.

"I had a chat with Jac after the game," said Kolisi.

"I watched clips of him before the game, the way he carries the ball and tackles. He is brave, willing to put his head in the dark places and that's how we know Wales.

"I think they are the team most similar to us. We have been in the same situation, a lot of guys have retired with a lot of caps.

"It takes time but you can see the work and hunger they have as a team. Losing Dan Biggar and Liam Williams a day before the game had a big impact but I have no doubt if they don't get it right at the World Cup, then they will after the tournament.

"The way the people of Wales support them is important. Not lose hope in what they are doing. I respect Wales so much and have no doubt that they will get it right."