Warren Gatland hailed his Wales team as one that has “forgotten to lose” as they turned around an unprecedented 16-point deficit to bag a thrilling 24-19 victory over France in the Six Nations opener on Friday.
The victory was Wales’ 10th in the row, a series that equals their winning streak in 1999 under former All Blacks coach Graham Henry.
“It was strange,” Gatland said of the rain-hit match that saw France race out to a 16-0 halftime lead before Wales came back in the second period. “In fairness to France I thought they were very good in the first half — we made too many errors, turned the ball over and probably in the weather conditions tried to play too much rugby.”
Photo: AFP
After Tomos Williams crossed for a try early in the second half, France, for whom halfbacks Morgan Parra and Camille Lopez botched 13 points with the kicking tee, gifted George North two tries.
First Yoann Huget made a hash of covering a Hadleigh Parkes grubber, the ball popping up for North to just dot down in the simplest of five-pointers.
Then lock Sebastien Vahaamahina threw out an unlikely floated pass that was easily picked off by the experienced Wales winger.
“A 16-point swing doesn’t usually happen in international rugby, but we were able to get that snowball effect early in the second half to chase down that deficit,” Wales skipper Alun Wyn Jones said.
“The big difference between the two teams is we’ve become a side for the moment that’s forgotten how to lose and can dig deep by that,” Gatland added. “On the other foot, they’re a team searching for some confidence, not having had a great run in the last seven or eight matches.”
Gatland, in his last Six Nations as Wales coach as he is to step down after the Rugby World Cup in Japan, said: “We know we get better the more time we have together and we showed that in November.”
“It’s tough in the Six Nations when you come up one of the big games. France in Paris is a big challenge first up,” he added.
Gatland is to take a 31-man squad to Nice, Italy, for the week leading up to their next game against Italy in Rome.
The Kiwi coach hinted that there would be wholesale changes for the match against the Azzurri in a bid to replicate World Cup conditions.
France coach Jacques Brunel was left “disappointed” by his team’s lack of control.
“We were fully committed, did lots of interesting things, notably in the first half,” Brunel said. “Even if we didn’t master everything, we managed to put Wales under pressure.”
“I don’t think it’s a mental state of mind — we showed until the end we had the fighting spirit. There was a lack of game management,” he added.
Brunel’s side face England away next week, and the former Italy coach said: “We’ll try to keep the same spirit despite the disappointment and focus on the positives.”
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was