Hopes were high for the Welsh campaign after missing out on the 2009 title to England on points difference.

But despite bouncing back from resounding 31-0 defeat to England in the opening round by beating Scotland, Lewis’ side were never able to get their campaign going.

And with the 2010 Women’s World Cup fast approaching, Lewis admits his squad will need to do some soul-searching over the next few months.

“We need to take a long hard look at ourselves,” said Lewis. “The bottom line is a few players put their hands up today but a few didn't.

“We've got to pick ourselves up and dust ourselves down before the World Cup. We played some good rugby today but we have just got to cut out the errors and learn not to implode.

“In the first half it was all us. We had all the territory, all the possession and should have been 20 points to the good to be honest.

“But in the second half we've pressed the self destruct button for the third time in a row, we gave them the game, they didn't win it.

“We went from a scrum in their 22 to a try under our own posts. We seem to be hell bent on giving the game away.”