Wales Wilt as French Power Tells

 A lot has been said about the crushing 24-45 defeat Wales were handed by the French last weekend. I have to admit that, after a bright beginning from Wales was quickly cancelled out, it looked to me sitting in the stand that a French victory seemed inevitable.

The French ball carrying was immense and hardly ever was one Welshman able to stop a rampant Frenchman on the gain line let alone knock him back. This kind of pressure usually tells and that it was exactly what happened. As the Welsh team tired, France were able to bring on more heavyweights from the bench which eventually broke Welsh resolve and what had been a reasonably close match ended up as a bit of a rout. It is hard to know what more Wales could have done with the hand that they were dealt. They were brave and scored three good tries but the French were just too powerful.

Tactically it is hard to see why you would kick the ball to possibly the best winger in world rugby in Penaud. He always made ground particularly as the energy in the kick chase ebbed away. Wales did try to move the ball and this proved reasonably effective. In the last ten minutes or so, however, this looked far too pedestrian with ball been shovelled on to men standing still – easy meat for the French defence.

The sixteenth player that Wales expect in the support of the crowd also ebbed away and the thousands of French supporters out-sung and out-cheered the Welsh. A sobering experience for sure.

Did anything good come out of it for Wales? There is of course much promise amongst the new members of the squad and we are told to be patient. It is hard to keep smiling when your team loses so many times. Yes, plenty of green shoots are evident but will they flourish in the harsh environment of test rugby. I sincerely hope so. We will need some pretty powerful fertilizer if we are to harvest a bountiful crop.

Wales now face the resurgent Italian team in Cardiff on Saturday with the prospect of a wooden spoon looming. Surely it is time for them to step up but the Italians will be a mighty tough nut to crack and are brimming with confidence.

Come on Wales!