Wales face ‘biggest game in last 15-20 years’ when they take on Italy

Wales’ Six Nations clash against Italy has been billed as Welsh rugby’s biggest game for the “last 15-20 years” after their campaign began in demoralising and record-breaking fashion.

The Wales squad headed to Nice on Saturday, where they will begin the healing process following a 43-0 drubbing by France in Paris.

Preparations on the Cote d’Azur will also start with Wales having been hit by injuries to centre Owen Watkin and number eight Aaron Wainwright.

Both players went off during the first half at Stade de France on Friday, with Watkin suffering a suspected serious knee injury and Wainwright requiring a further head injury assessment.

Wales head coach Warren Gatland also revealed that full-back Liam Williams had an issue with his knee, as his players aim to regroup mentally and physically.

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Taulupe Faleta

And Gatland will hope that 104 times-capped number eight Taulupe Faletau can be available in Rome after a knee injury meant he was not considered to face France.

Faletau last played Test rugby 16 months ago, being sidelined due to a broken arm and then a fractured shoulder during his comeback appearance for Cardiff.

Former Wales fly-half and captain Dan Biggar told ITV: “For me, this game next week is the biggest in Welsh rugby for the last 15-20 years. It is a huge, huge match,”

It is difficult to disagree with that assessment, and Wales will surely be left hurtling towards a second successive Six Nations wooden spoon if Italy beat them next weekend.

The harsh facts are unlikely to instil hope for Wales supporters starved of a Test match victory since the 2023 World Cup.

Wales have now lost 13 successive Tests, while seven-try France posted a record Six Nations win against them and Gatland’s team were only a point short of matching their all-time heaviest defeat in the tournament – 54-10 against Ireland, 23 years ago.

It all served to intensify the heat on Gatland, who has overseen just six wins in 25 Tests during a second stint as Wales boss.

He came into the competition on the back of a wide-ranging Welsh Rugby Union review into the dismal Autumn Nations Series campaign, with more detailed analysis promised by the WRU post-Six Nations.

With Ireland, Scotland and England lined up as Wales’ opponents after Italy, a loss against the Azzurri could have considerable ramifications.

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Depth

Gatland said: “We were playing against a team with so much depth, even though they were missing a few players, and one or two players had a pretty significant impact on the game in terms of being able to convert opportunities into points.

“I don’t think it was a completely bad night at the office because there were parts of that game that were good. Next week becomes pretty important for us.

“We talked about being positive and brave, and sometimes you have got to be really positive and brave in the first couple of phases.

“If it doesn’t come off for you, then you look at then turning them around a bit in the wider channels, little kicks in behind and taking to the air and stuff. But you can’t question the effort of the players to try and shift the ball and to try and put France under pressure.

“I thought we were a bit unlucky in a few calls. There was a pretty obvious head-high tackle on Josh Adams that wasn’t picked up, and I thought a penalty against James Botham for not releasing, when we looked at the replay, for us there was a clear release and then we get an official warning.

“There were some pretty key moments in terms of some of the decisions we felt didn’t go our way, but sometimes you need to put up with that.”