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Steve Tandy makes plea to nation as Wales set 2 unwanted records

By PA
Wales v France – Guinness Men’s Six Nations – Principality Stadium

Steve Tandy called for national unity after Wales suffered another demoralising defeat to France in front of their lowest Guinness Six Nations home crowd.

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There has been turmoil in the Welsh game on and off the pitch for some time, as the Welsh Rugby Union presses ahead with plans to cut its number of men’s professional teams from to three amid record Test defeats for a once-proud rugby nation.

France eased to their biggest victory in Cardiff on Sunday as Les Bleus scored eight tries for a 54-12 success that returns them to the top of the Six Nations table.

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Of further concern for the WRU was the crowd of 57,744 – lower that the previous smallest crowd of 58,349, against Italy in 2002, for a Six Nations fixture at Principality Stadium.

“I understand there is bucketfuls going on,” Tandy said when asked about the record-low attendance. “There’s been lots going on in Wales for a hell of a long time.

“At the end of the day, you want to unify everything. That’s where the aim for everyone is.

“We’re a small nation and we need everything to be flowing in the right direction.

“I genuinely believe that for the people, clubs, players, journalists – we all need to play a part in this journey. Everyone’s going to have to play their part, but there needs to be some patience as well.”

After losing their Championship opener to England 48-7 the previous weekend, Wales were again outpowered and outclassed.

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Wales have now conceded 32 tries and 302 points in Tandy’s six games at the helm.

But the malaise runs far deeper than the current management team, with Wales having suffered 13 consecutive Six Nations defeats and won only twice in 25 Tests.

Tandy said: “I’m disappointed with the scoreline, but you’ve got to tip your hat to France, what they brought.

“I thought there was more in us today in parts of the game.

“I know you’ll probably look at me stupid when I’m talking around the scoreline, but I thought there were (positive) glimpses around the set-piece and some of the intent of how we wanted to go after the game.

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“There was enough from the boys that we can go back in on Tuesday and work on things.”

Wales host Scotland next on Saturday with Gregor Townsend’s side buoyed by their excellent victory over England.

Reigning champions France hope to take another step towards the title and a potential Grand Slam at home to Italy on Sunday.

Captain Antoine Dupont said: “The tournament is not won yet. We still have big matches to come and we must remain concentrated and focus on our style of play.

“We are seeing efficiency in our game and we started the game well.

“We were good under pressure and our defence allowed us to have many transitions in the game.”

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Comments

10 Comments
J
JJ 45 days ago

Get rid of the WRU board and stick with 4 regions. That’s how you get the crowd back. Then get a commercial department worthy of the name. That’s how you fund 4 professional teams. All we are hearing is cuts, cuts, cuts but what we need to see is growth, growth, growth.

N
NB 45 days ago

But how can you grow the game when you’re losing?


The four regions have been getting steadily worse year on year for 22 seasons now.


Wales do not have enough good players to fund four competitive squads and there are far too many fans in Wales who not identify with Llanelli, Swansea, Cardiff and Newport along the M4.


Two regions - East and West Wales please. And no ‘Cardiff Capitals’!

F
Footy Franks 46 days ago

Also the tactics. They have the best back 3 and Jalibert and the Welsh halfback just does box kicks all day and the French wingers score tries all day.

F
Footy Franks 46 days ago

It just amazes me the wages of these coaches when you lose every game by 50. Wales should be in another division or competition. France were toying with them. You can see the welsh players are giving everything and are playing to the best of their ability. But their ability is low.

u
unknown 46 days ago

I see the vision Tandy believes in. And believe too. I think we were much better than last week and clearly the changes to the squad were crucial. I think we most definitely have a big chance at Scotland because of the teams new desire we saw against France. With LRZ running at the Scot’s defence and Wainwright making these very nice runs into the defence, we can beat the Scots. Cymru am byth!

E
Eric Elwood 46 days ago

It was a significant improvement on last week. The gift try before halftime was a killer.

I understand what he was trying to do with the kick as there was nobody at home and he had two fliers to his left. Obviously too risky and he and Wales paid the price.

Most of France tries had to be real quality.

Hopefully its back to the battles we are used to seeing when ye face Scotland next week.

H
Hammer Head 46 days ago

What a rough position to be in - difficult to find positives. But there were times Wales looked decent. But nobody will notice that while they keep losing like this.

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