Warren Gatland believes “you are always under pressure in sport” as he prepares for Wales’s latest bid at ending a dismal losing sequence against the southern hemisphere heavyweights tomorow.

Wales host South Africa, having suffered 22 successive defeats at the hands of the Springboks, world champions New Zealand and Australia.

That barren run led to Wales’s head coach being asked on television in his post-match interview following the 34-16 All Blacks reversal five days ago if he felt under pressure.

Gatland, though, has dismissed subsequent media reports which claimed a formal complaint had been made to the BBC by the Welsh Rugby Union.

“You are always under pressure in sport,” he said, after naming a team showing three changes to face the Springboks.

“As a group, it’s more about the pressure you put on yourselves as much as anything, rather than the external pressure.

“With regard to the autumn, it isn’t a competition. For us, it’s about using the autumn to play against the best teams in the world, who have come off really strong campaigns, to prepare for the Six Nations and for the World Cup.

“There wasn’t any complaint made to the BBC.

“What was said afterwards was that given that was an unbelievable Test match (against New Zealand) and we pushed the All Blacks for 69 minutes and played some great rugby and were very proud of the way we performed and played, I suppose — and it’s nothing that I had said — people within our camp felt that was an unfair question.”