Warren Gatland insists Wales will embrace the challenge of a wooden spoon decider against Italy after France inflicted a fourth successive defeat on them in the 2024 Guinness Six Nations.
France powered their way to a five-try 45-24 victory in Cardiff on Sunday as Wales were unable to stem a Les Bleus tide in a one-sided second half.
Wales have not finished bottom of the championship since losing all five games in 2003, but that is the prospect facing Gatland’s young side ahead of Saturday’s showdown against the Azzurri at Principality Stadium.
“It’s massive for us,” said head coach Gatland. “You’ve got to embrace it and not run away from the challenge. I’ve never done that.
“You can’t go into your shell and hide away. There’s going to be a lot of external pressure and expectation, and international rugby is always about that.
“We’ve got to front up, work hard next week and go and give a performance at home.”
Fifth-placed Italy have seven points to Wales’ three in the championship standings after beating Scotland 31-29 in Rome on Saturday.
It was Italy’s first Six Nations victory since winning in Cardiff two years ago, while Wales have lost 11 of their last 12 matches in the competition.
“Physically, they’re in pretty good shape in terms of competing at this level,” said Gatland after Wales had suffered a sixth straight defeat to France.
“It’s going to be a challenge for us and massive for them because they’ll be thinking that they can finish in their best possible position in the Six Nations with a good performance.
“For us, we definitely don’t want to finish at the bottom.”
Rio Dyer, Tomos Williams and Joe Roberts scored tries to give Wales a 24-20 lead at the start of the second half.
But Wales eventually wilted and shipping a record points total to France in Cardiff, with Gatland saying: “There were lots of parts of that game that were reasonably good.
“We were pretty happy with the first half. We targeted to play through phases and when we got over five or six phases, we were creating space and holes, and causing them problems.
“But we didn’t help ourselves with some easy turnovers and errors that we made that allowed them to wrestle back some momentum in the game.
“We were in front, we did look dangerous and created some opportunities and space.
“We’ve got to keep doing that and make sure we manage the game a little bit better in terms of those big moments.
“Unfortunately, we probably capitulated a little bit in the last 15 minutes.”
France conclude their Six Nations campaign against England in Lyon on Saturday and skipper Gregory Alldritt believes Les Bleus are in fine fettle heading into that contest.
Alldritt said: “For us it’s always a big game against England. We know that our big always expect a big crunch.
“We are going to a big recovery at the start of the week because it is a short week and then we are going to attack this game.
“England are showing some really good rugby at the moment, really tough defence as well, so it’s going to be a big challenge for the forwards.
“We hope to finish with a big performance and a win.”
'Job not done' for Springboks after All Blacks triumph, says Kolisi
South Africa captain Siya Kolisi warned his team the job is far from done despite them rallying for a thrilling victory over New Zealand in the Rugby Championship on Saturday.
The Springboks secured a 31-27 win over the All Blacks at Ellis Park, coming from behind with two late tries from Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Grant Williams.
The victory hauled South Africa onto 14 points in the Championship standings as they bid to end New Zealand's four-year stranglehold on the title, but Kolisi says there is still work to be done.
Addressing the capacity crowd in his post-match interview, Kolisi said: "We play for a lot but you people are our number one motivation.
"We appreciate you every single day. Please don't stop. When times are tough, please keep supporting us. We cannot do it without you.
"We respect the All Blacks. No matter what people say about them, when they need to turn up, they turn up. We believed in ourselves, we didn't panic, and we did what we wanted.
"They were catching us on the exit. After the first try in the second half, we picked it up. I'm really proud of the boys but the job is not done."
All Blacks captain Scott Barrett, meanwhile, was proud of his team-mates' efforts but admitted they had just fallen short of putting together a complete performance.
"Well done to the Springboks, it showed the class team they are," he said. "We weren't quite good enough. We were good for 62 minutes and it's an 80-minute game.
"There were two key moments after kick-offs where we couldn't quite get out of our half and they punished us. It was a huge effort, we're certainly proud, but it was just not quite to be.
"We'll regroup pretty quickly. Some guys have played here for the first time. It's intense and we'll have to be better next week."
South Africa host New Zealand again in Cape Town next week, while Australia go to Argentina for their round-three matchup.
Schmidt flummoxed by 'bizarre' Test as Australia downed by South Africa
Joe Schmidt said he cannot recall ever being involved in a more "bizarre" Test as his Australia side were downed 30-12 by South Africa in the Rugby Championship.
Malcolm Marx touched down twice for the Springboks in rainy Perth to make it two from two in the tournament but the Wallabies were hit by a swathe of injuries.
Front-row pair Allan Alaalatoa and Angus Bell were unable to return for the second half and scrums went uncontested after replacement prop James Slipper failed a head injury assessment.
The Wallabies even went down to 14 briefly when hooker Josh Nasser went off injured, though they did return to a full 15.
Reflecting on the unfortunate series of events, head coach Schmidt told Stan Sport: "It's probably one of the most bizarre games I've ever been involved in.
"In over 100 Test matches that I've been involved in I've never had a situation like that before. It happened so early in the game as well. When Slips got a head knock right after half-time.
"And then we were straight down. And then we played with 14 for a period of time before the officials worked out that we were still entitled to have a full pack because of the HIA.
"But I still am proud of the way that the guys fought their way through that second half. And the way that they stayed in the fight in the first half. It could have been, and I know it could have been as easy to say, but it could have been 12-11 at half-time and that would have been a massive lift for the boys."
Australia are winless through their first two matches, both against the Springboks, and will next face Argentina in La Plata on August 31.
Australia 12-30 South Africa: Springboks' late charge downs Wallabies
Malcolm Marx scored two tries in the second half to lead South Africa to a 30-12 victory over Australia in rainy Perth.
After a tight first half, the Springboks asserted their dominance to make it two wins from two in the Rugby Championship ahead of their meeting with New Zealand next week.
Noah Lolesio's penalty gave Australia the early lead, but they could not hold onto it for long as Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu equalised moments before Aphelele Fassi latched onto a long kick to touch down the first try.
Lolesio slotted in two more kicks only to miss another on the stroke of half-time that would have given the Wallabies the lead.
They were punished for it after the break as Marco van Staden and Malcolm Marx twice touched down to maintain South Africa's perfect start.
Though it was a marked improvement for the Wallabies from their opening-day performance in Brisbane, Joe Schmidt still has work to do to get them ready for Argentina next weekend.
Data Debrief: Springboks extend Australian run
South Africa have now won each of their last three Test matches against the Wallabies in Australia. The last time they recorded a longer such winning run was a four-match span from July 1971 to July 1993.
Though Australia have suffered back-to-back defeats, they showed more of a fight. Last week, it took them 75 minutes to score, compared to just three this time around.
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