Although Gatland’s men came out winners in Paris on Friday it was far from smooth sailing. If Wales are going to be serious contenders for this year’s Six Nations, they’ll need to improve in order to reach the levels of the likes of England who tore apart Joe Schmidt’s Ireland for a famous win in Dublin.
Wales will be looking to start a lot brighter in their next game against the Italians, as their slow and lethargic start cost them against France as they faced an uphill battle from the
A normally reliable Ken Owens was off the boil on Friday with Wales only winning 4 out of 7 (57%) of their lineouts. V
From watching the game on Friday,
it was clear that Wales’s discipline was lacking and really cost them. With the
kicking game that the French adopted, alongside the vast amount of penalties
the Welsh conceded they really struggled to get a foothold in the game in the
first forty minutes. They conceded 10 penalties in the Stade de France, twice
as much as the hosts did on the night and if it wasn’t for Morgan Parra who
failed to convert all three of his kicks in the first half Wales would’ve been
dead and buried.
Although it wasn’t Wales’s most
convincing win, coach Warren Gatland is still confident in his team’s chances
in the tournament by claiming that his squad have forgotten “how to lose” and
he believes that his men will grow and play better as the tournament unfolds.
Up next the Welsh travel to Italy which will once again be a great challenge for Gatland’s men, but they’ll be hoping for more of a convincing win before heading back to Cardiff and the Principality Stadium to face
Watch Warren Gatland’s press conference post game:
