6 hours Ago By [email protected] (Ben James)
Here are your rugby morning headlines for Saturday, February 1. Jamie Roberts expects new centre pairing Former Wales centre Jamie Roberts says he expects Warren Gatland will make changes in his midfield ahead of next week's must-win clash with Italy in Rome. Owen Watkin won't feature after suffering a serious knee injury, but his midfield partner Nick Tompkins could find his place in the team in danger.
Young Scarlets duo Eddie James and Joe Roberts are the other centre options, while Ben Thomas also spent most of the match in midfield after Watkin's injury. And after a tepid attacking performance where Wales failed to trouble the scorers in France, Roberts believes there'll be changes in midfield. "I think Wales really lacked penetration," said Roberts on ITV .
"At times, their attacking shape looked predictable. "The whole purpose of an attacking shape is to create opportunities and it didn’t. When you create space on the field, you want to create one-on-ones and capitalise on them.
"But Wales didn’t. It felt like a bit of a defensive masterclass by France. "They didn’t come off the line too hard and they contained Wales.
They’ll have to put some penetration in that team and I think they’ll back the young centres next week." Sign up to Inside Welsh rugby on Substack to get exclusive news stories and insight from behind the scenes in Welsh rugby. To celebrate our one-year anniversary, save 50% on a new annual subscription for a limited time Wales will be up for Italy - Edwards France defence coach Shaun Edwards believes Wales will be up for next week's must-win clash with Italy after their heavy defeat in Paris.
Perhaps fittingly, given Edwards was Wales' defensive guru under Gatland for over a decade, it was France who inflicted the first scoreless game of Gatland's 150 matches in charge of Wales. Afterwards, Edwards admitted his old side had their work cut out simply due to the lack of possession they enjoyed at the Stade de France. "Well, first-half they had no ball," said Edwards.
"They were tackling seventy per cent of the game. "It's very difficult to hold teams out, the way the rules are at the moment with mauls and pick-and-goes. They've got a big game against Italy next week and I'm sure they'll be up for that.
" Gatland bemoans 'tough calls' After the defeat, Gatland was less than impressed with some of the officiating as he bemoaned "tough calls" that went against his side. Wales had two players sin-binned, with Evan Lloyd and Freddie Thomas both spending 10 minutes on the sidelines. France also had a player dismissed, with Romain Ntamack picking up a needless 20-minute red card while they were 38-0 up on the scoreboard.
However, Gatland believed Wales were on the wrong side of the referee after the 43-0 defeat. "I thought we created a couple of opportunities and we didn’t finish that," he told ITV. "The penalty count was not in our favour and I thought there were a couple of tough calls.
"There was a high shot on Josh Adams that didn’t go. I thought the yellow card on Freddie Thomas was pretty rough. "But that’s what happens sometimes in those scenarios, you’re not going to get calls that go your way.
We’ve just got to get back on the horse for next week." Wales 'worst team in the tournament' Former Wales back-row Emyr Lewis believes Warren Gatland's side are the worst team in the Six Nations . Lewis was working on BBC Radio Cymru when he offered up his stark assessment.
"It's been disappointing," he said after the defeat to France. "They've thrown everything at it but unfortunately we aren't up to the standard. "I think in this tournament, there are two, maybe even three groups.
"France and Ireland are in that top tier, then perhaps Scotland and England in the second tier, and unfortunately Wales and Italy are in the bottom tier. "Wales are possibly the worst team in the tournament at this moment.".
