Lake confident Wales victory is coming soon
REACTION: Wales captain Dewi Lake believes a long-awaited victory is close after an improved display in the 17-27 Six Nations defeat to Ireland in Dublin.
The result extends Wales’ losing run in the championship to 15 matches, with their last Six Nations win coming against Italy in March 2023. Despite the defeat, the performance marked their most encouraging showing of the Steve Tandy era so far.
Ireland head coach Andy Farrell praised Wales afterwards, describing them as “tremendous” and saying Ireland had been involved in a “proper, dogged Test match”.
The display follows Wales’ narrow 26–23 loss to Scotland in Cardiff two weeks earlier. They now turn their attention to the final round, where they host Italy at the Principality Stadium next Saturday.
Wales will be aiming to avoid finishing bottom of the table for a third consecutive Six Nations and to secure their first championship win in almost 1,100 days.
“The win is coming, I can feel it – it’s just around the corner,” said Lake.
Although frustrated by another defeat, the captain highlighted the significant progress made by the squad in recent weeks.
“The development of the team in the past four weeks has been monumental,” he said. “We’re always disappointed to lose, but there are a lot of positives and the way we played is something we can be proud of.”
Lake admitted Wales would reflect on missed opportunities that might have changed the outcome against Ireland.
“In the end we couldn’t quite get over the line,” he said. “We had opportunities in the first half and maybe didn’t take as many in the second. We need to learn from that and make sure we take those chances next week.”
Head coach Steve Tandy felt his side were unfortunate to leave Dublin empty-handed, with a late Jack Crowley penalty denying Wales even a losing bonus point.
“I’ve got massive pride in the boys and the effort they put in,” said Tandy. “I’m disappointed we didn’t get anything from the game because I felt the group deserved something.
“They showed a lot of fight, and there was some great skill out there as well.”
Tandy also acknowledged that, despite it being a seventh defeat in eight matches, the performance could be considered the strongest of his tenure so far.
“Probably, yes, but for different reasons,” he said. “This group is unbelievable to work with. I know it’s tough because everyone wants us to win, but the way the players are developing and the performance they produced tells you a lot about them.”
NEW IN THE APP: Official World Rugby Rankings hub! Compare team rankings side-by-side, with data going back 20 years.
Download the RugbyPass app on the App Store (iOS) and Google Play (Android) now!
