Click here to activate<\/a> or add us as Preferred Source in your Google search settings<\/strong><\/p>\nMatches start at the set piece. Always have. Always will. Lineouts are rehearsed, controllable, coachable. Yet we operate like every throw is a surprise. Yes, middle and back ball give you options. But if you can\u2019t hit them with accuracy, stop being greedy. Go to the front. Bank possession. Play from there. Ugly beats incompetent.<\/p>\n
The scrum held up reasonably in London, but France are not England. They have a better scrum and will look to dominate, which is why I would have stuck with Nicky Smith at loosehead. Priority one is set-piece competence. Everything else comes after.<\/p>\n
Defensively, Steve Tandy\u2019s system has long been built around holding carriers up and creating choke tackles. Fine in theory. But you need men who can physically stop other men. Not slow them. Stop them. We\u2019re light in that department.<\/p>\n
What Wales can be, though, is an effective chop-tackling side. That doesn\u2019t require giants. It gets the ball on the floor. And that\u2019s where you can compete. Slow ruck speed, win penalties, create disorder. Which makes Tommy Reffell\u2019s absence even more baffling. He\u2019s a proven Test jackal, built for mess and ruck fights, and he\u2019s not involved. If you\u2019re going to chop, pick the man who lives over the ball.<\/p>\n
Ross Moriarty? Yes. Not because he\u2019s the future, but because he brings edge, needle and a willingness to make games unpleasant. Wales are far too easy to play against.<\/p>\n
![\"Ross](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/0_GettyImages-1175314816.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Ross Moriarty (Image: World Rugby)<\/p>\n
Right now we don\u2019t have the power or accuracy to play expansively, so stop pretending. The kicking game has to be a weapon, not just an exit. The new laws have turned the aerial battle into a lottery. That suits the underdog. More spills, more broken field, more chaos.<\/p>\n
At the moment, that\u2019s Wales\u2019 best route to chances. It might involve a bit of fortune, but Wales aren\u2019t in a position to be choosy about how they create opportunity. That said, it\u2019s not just kick and hope. The kick must be precise, the chase connected, and the team alive to what happens next.<\/p>\n
This side needs ballast. Moriarty helps. I\u2019d also ring Jake Ball and ask if he\u2019s got 40 minutes of bad intentions left.<\/p>\n
Would it beat France? Unlikely. But it might stop Wales being walked through.<\/p>\n
France look close to something serious. Power first, skill layered on top. Galthi\u00e9 is building with South Africa in mind, not Wales. Their \u201clocks\u201d play like back rows because they are back rows. I\u2019m not sure that pairing has the sheer heft for England or the Springboks, but they\u2019ve more than enough for Wales.<\/p>\n
Expectations in Cardiff are on the floor. The crowd will still bring the noise. But unless the fundamentals improve, it won\u2019t matter how loud they are.<\/p>\n
You don\u2019t outplay teams from the back foot in Test rugby.<\/p>\n
You earn the right.<\/p>\n
Wales, right now, haven\u2019t.<\/p>\n
Gwyn Jones is part of S4C’s live coverage of every Wales match in the Six Nations. You can watch France v Wales from 2.30pm on Sunday.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"S4C pundit Gwyn Jones takes apart every aspect of where Wales are going wrong and questions some baffling…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":761649,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5010],"tags":[748,4884,4209,16,15,1764,14260],"class_list":{"0":"post-761648","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wales","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-great-britain","10":"tag-six-nations","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom","13":"tag-wales","14":"tag-wales-rugby-team"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116063093717740500","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/761648","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=761648"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/761648\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/761649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=761648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=761648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=761648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Tommy](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1_JS339308292.jpg\")
<\/p>\n