{"id":761933,"date":"2026-02-13T14:30:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T14:30:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/761933\/"},"modified":"2026-02-13T14:30:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T14:30:11","slug":"wales-beef-up-pack-but-13th-straight-six-nations-defeat-hangs-over-visit-of-france-six-nations-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/761933\/","title":{"rendered":"Wales beef up pack but 13th straight Six Nations defeat hangs over visit of France | Six Nations 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Wales coach Steve Tandy has made four changes to his starting XV for the daunting visit of France to the Principality Stadium on Sunday, including Ollie Cracknell at No 8 as they seek to arrest a 12-game losing streak in the Six Nations<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Following last weekend\u2019s 48-7 defeat to England<\/a>, beleaguered Wales have beefed up their pack with the inclusion of Cracknell for a first Six Nations start, and two changes in the front row as props Rhys Carre and Tomas Francis replace Nicky Smith and Archie Griffin.<\/p>\n

Aaron Wainwright moves from No 8 to the flank in order to accommodate Cracknell, with Alex Mann keeping his place among the loose-forwards. Captain Dewi Lake continues at hooker, with Adam Beard and Dafydd Jenkins the lock pairing.<\/p>\n

There is one change to the backline, with Joe Hawkins taking over from Ben Thomas at inside centre, partnering Eddie James in the midfield. Dan Edwards continues at fly-half, with Tomos Williams keeping his place at scrum-half. The back three is made up of wings Josh Adams and Ellis Mee, and Louis Rees-Zammit at full-back.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were bitterly disappointed with the performance last week,\u201d said Tandy. \u201cWe\u2019ve addressed it in meetings. The boys were open and honest around the fact that we didn\u2019t put ourselves on the game. We felt we played into England\u2019s hands a little bit and obviously the discipline was hugely disappointing. It\u2019s a massive lesson for us. It\u2019s something we need to correct and put more of our game out on the field on Sunday.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wales\u2019 wretched run of form has seen them win only two of their last 24 Tests, both against Japan. But speaking on Thursday, the France coach Fabien Galthi\u00e9 was keen to ensure his team don\u2019t take the hosts lightly in Cardiff.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me [it is] the most beautiful stadium in the world, with those Welsh chants that never stop,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s special and, in my opinion, it levels the playing field. It gives the Welsh an extra spark.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before that, Ireland host Italy on Saturday and their captain Caelan Doris has said they cannot afford to have any \u201cpassengers\u201d and urged teammates to take greater individual responsibility. Andy Farrell\u2019s side are under pressure to produce a performance in Dublin against the Azzurri in the wake of a dispiriting round-one defeat<\/a> away to reigning champions France.<\/p>\n

Head coach Farrell has made six changes to his starting XV, including handing championship debuts to flanker Cormac Izuchukwu and wing Robert Baloucoune and naming uncapped lock Edwin Edogbo on the bench.<\/p>\n

Doris, who switches from No 8 to openside flanker, said: \u201cIt\u2019s an exciting team we\u2019ve got. There\u2019s obviously a few changes, so getting cohesion through the week has been important. The message to those guys [coming into the team] is to trust themselves.<\/p>\n

Caelen Doris during the Ireland team run in Dublin on Friday. Photograph: Brian Lawless\/PA<\/p>\n

\u201cSame with all of us really off the back of a defeat like that; doubling down on what we\u2019re good at, doing things properly with intent, enjoying it and enjoying it from doing things properly with intent as well. Creating a feeling through how we show up with actions, and it can be infectious that. But also to the new guys it\u2019s making sure they own it and make it feel like it\u2019s properly theirs. You can\u2019t have any passengers tomorrow, so, yeah, full ownership from everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Wales coach Steve Tandy has made four changes to his starting XV for the daunting visit of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":761934,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5010],"tags":[748,4884,16,15,1764],"class_list":{"0":"post-761933","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-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-wales"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116063805351876761","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/761933","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=761933"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/761933\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/761934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=761933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=761933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=761933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}