Where do we go from here? How many times in the past has that question been asked?
The most disappointing aspect of last Friday's thrashing in Paris wasn't necessarily the fact we conceded 43 points, but that we scored zero.
It was an indication there didn’t seem to be much creativity in our gameplan. There was definitely nothing to cause France to lose any sweat and in all honesty they didn't get out of first gear.
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England and Italy, although they also lost, are in a far more positive place than we are. I draw comparisons with other countries that have been in similar positions.
Steve Borthwick was brought in to coach England for similar reasons to Warren Gatland before the last World Cup because they weren’t going anywhere with their previous coaching structure. England have been on a losing run themselves recently but look at the teams they have lost to and it has mostly been by quite small margins.
Australia were in a similar position to Wales after the World Cup. Remember, we actually beat them by 40 points in our pool.
Since then Joe Schmidt was appointed to replace Eddie Jones and they have beaten us three times since, including a 50-pointer on our own turf in the autumn. They have moved on from where they were.
World champions South Africa demonstrated when we played them in the autumn they were evolving their gameplan to include a quick, offloading style of play. The leaders in world rugby are the innovators because they want to keep ahead of the rest.
Then you have the rest who will copy their methods because they don’t want to be left behind. But, where does that leave us?
The game is moving on before we have managed to catch up. I honestly don’t believe our players are as bad as the 43-0 hiding in Paris suggests.
The players are just not being given the opportunity because of selection issues along with our suspect tactics and coaching. It may have worked 10 years ago but everyone else has moved on since then.
That includes Italy who we play next and they gave Scotland a good run for their money at Murrayfield on Saturday. The only positives that I could see for Wales was the performance of the scrum and our lineout.
Full credit should be given to the front row for withstanding the expected onslaught from the massive French scrum. When Henry Thomas was given his long overdue opportunity he grabbed it with both hands.
But don’t overlook the contribution of Gareth Thomas either and Nicky Smith when he came on the field. Fortunately, our scrum went a darned sight better than we were all fearing.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not suggesting that we gave them a good hiding or anything like that but we certainly held our own which we weren’t expecting to do.
The report that was produced at the end of 2024 suggested that there would be some changes to Gatland’s coaching team.
But the only significant change as far as I can see is to throw Alex King under the bus in favour of Rob Howley as attack coach.
On Friday night there was no evidence to suggest that it was anything other than a case of more of the same. Adam Jones has only been there for five minutes, not long enough to really get his teeth into it but improvements have been made. It appears that purely a change of voice was enough to make a difference.
I’m sure the same principle can be used by bringing in a completely different attack coach with his own strategy.
We held our own in the lineout. But I was disappointed that we didn’t challenge on France’s throw in. This has become crucial since the refs have been instructed not to pick up the crooked throw-ins if the opposition do not challenge.
It’s the equivalent to a free ball as is the case in kids' rugby. When you examine the statistics, the scrum and lineouts were OK, possession was equal, territory was slightly in France’s favour and there were a lot of heroics defensively, most notably by Jac Morgan, Dafydd Jenkins and the two Thomases.
But although the amount of possession was equal, it is what you do with it and what you do without it that counts. This is where Antoine Dupont and Shaun Edwards were at the heart of everything.
Their contribution to the French victory was superb. Dupont's vision is superb but don’t forget that, although, his team-mates are good players in their own right, they still have to be switched on to the half opportunities he sees and creates for them.
They scored seven tries and they could have scored a few more on the night. Edwards’ contribution as defence coach prevented us from creating anything in attack.
We knew this was likely to happen but I saw precious little to suggest that any part of our gameplan was attempting to outwit his defensive pattern. Consequently, their penalty count was incredibly low which indicated that they were under very little pressure in defence.
They appeared to be quite happy without the ball. They just let us go from side to side without creating any attacking threats.
That is until we lost our composure and, subsequently, gave away possession. By comparison, our penalty count was ridiculously high and reflected the amount of pressure we were under.
France kicked as much as we did but as I have said so many times in this column over the years, the kick is only as good as the chase. I am afraid that if kicking is supposed to be part of our gameplan it wasn’t very effective.
An effective kick will either allow you to win back possession or to put pressure on your opponents. All we achieved was to kick away possession.
If it is a bad kick, either too far or misguided, you only give the opponents a free ball which, in the case of most of our opponents, especially France, can prove to be disastrous.
Gatland should abandon the experiment of using Ben Thomas as a No 10. He is a good centre but he looked uncomfortable at outside half.
As a consequence of Owen Watkin’s injury Dan Edwards was on the field for most of the game, albeit under difficult circumstances. But it wasn’t the best of opportunities to demonstrate his capabilities.
The problem is we do not have any real cover for outside-half if one assumes Edwards will be starting on Saturday. That is unless someone from outside the squad is sent for.
How on earth do you select a team after experiencing one of the worst defeats in decades?
We do not have the resources to make wholesale changes. I would select the same front five for Saturday.
They held their own in the set-pieces and their tackle count was commendable, but unfortunately we do not have any genuine ball- carrying forwards. Gatland might have to make a change at No 8 if Aaron Wainwright has not recovered in time while it would be a welcome sight to see Taulupe Faletau back playing for Wales, assuming he is fit.
It is not the best option to use Botham at No.8 as we finished with on Friday, as it contained a whole backrow of opensides. So, I would start with Morgan, Faletau (or Taine Plumtree) and Botham.
The backs are more difficult to select. We know that they can perform much better than they did against France
Gatland’s reduced his options with his original squad selection by excluding Gareth Anscombe and Max Llewellyn The half-backs should be as finished on Friday.
I would give Edwards his chance to start. I don’t consider there to be any other option. Tomos Williams should step up to the mark.
We know he has much more to offer than he did on Friday. The selection of the centres has been made slightly easier following Watkin's unfortunate injury.
I would choose the Scarlets pairing of Eddie James and Joe Roberts to start. They have both been knocking on the door, individually, but as they are used to playing with each other at the Scarlets, so let’s see what they can do as the centre partnership.
I don’t believe Liam Williams should be carrying an injury on the field. I would prefer to see Tom Rodgers move to full-back with Josh Adams just keeping his place on the wing. Adams, like Williams, is another player who needs to raise his game to the level we know he can achieve.
Under normal circumstances this would be the preferred game to give Ellis Mee his first cap, but with so much at stake I would choose the slightly more experienced Josh Hathaway to take the other wing spot. This is our best opportunity to end our losing streak, but it is also the game that Italy is targeting more than any other to gain a win.
They have experienced what it is like to avoid the wooden spoon. The result will be down to who wants victory most.
