Six Nations: Warren Gatland insists Wales are a ‘long way’ off challenging the world’s best sides

As the blistering Côte d’Azur sun shone through the window of the luxury Welsh hotel on Nice’s Promenade des Anglais on Thursday, Warren Gatland did not mince words when asked about his team’s current situation.

There’s no getting around the fact that this has been a tough Six Nations for Wales and Gatland after his return as head coach. His team has had difficult moments on and off the field.

Gatland recognized this when he spoke about the French Riviera, shortly before the Welsh team flew to Paris for their final championship clash against France tomorrow.

When asked how far Wales are from achieving international rugby highlights like the best teams in the world are capable of, Gatland was unequivocal.

“A long way at the moment,” he replied with brutal honesty.

Gatland has been unable to get his team to focus on field affairs when a major storm of contractual and financial uncertainty has raged within the home game.

Gatland expanded: ‘We have a lot of work to do. There are many areas. We have to be in better physical shape. That often fixes a couple of problems.

‘We’ve been working hard, but we’ve definitely seen in some training sessions where we’ve put a lot of pressure on them physically, the precision went off towards the end because we were fatigued.

“We weren’t accurate from a skills perspective and we weren’t making the right decisions. Other teams used to talk about how tough we were mentally and physically. That will be a big focus for us building over the next few months. We have some skill work to do. We have been working hard in these areas each week.

Gatland’s comments may serve as a rather depressing tonic for Welsh fans, but they’re also an accurate representation of where his team stands at the moment.

Wales have not been helped by ongoing financial and contractual uncertainty in their home game throughout this Six Nations, prompting one player to threaten to attack ahead of the England match.

Gatland admitted that he had not been able to get his team to fully focus on field affairs when such a huge storm hit.

“I don’t know if I’ve done that,” said the New Zealander. ‘It has been a challenge. A lot has happened throughout the entire campaign. It has definitely had an emotional impact on players. It’s been great for us to come here (Nice). One of the players joked that we should stay here full time and fly to Wales for the games. I thought that was a brilliant idea!

‘You could present that suggestion to the board!’

Wales are currently miles away from world leaders Ireland and Saturday’s opponent France.

After defeats to Ireland, Scotland and England, Wales made sure to avoid finishing bottom of the Six Nations pile with a much-needed victory in Italy last week.

Leaving Rome, Wales spent the week training in Nice to mirror the preparations he will make when he visits the city for the World Cup later this year.

Wales is sure to improve the closer he gets to the world masterpiece and the more time he spends under Gatland’s guidance. They will have to.

On the evidence of this Six Nations, they are far behind world leaders Ireland and France. Les Bleus are next.

Gatland have rotated to their side again, making a total of six changes from the team that beat Italy with a bonus point. In this Six Nations, Gatland have made a whopping 26 substitutions.

It gives the impression that you are working on the selection by numbers.

“We said we were going to make those changes,” Gatland said.

“From the beginning we said that we were going to give the youngest of the squad some experience at this level to try to develop them. This is a great game to see where some of the experienced players are at. We still have a lot of work to do with the younger players.

After alternating between youth and experience thus far, the Welsh old guard returns to France.

George North, Dan Biggar and Alun Wyn Jones return. Enter rookie center pair Joe Hawkins and Mason Grady, both 20, who started both the England and Italian games.

The Six Nations title remains a possibility for France, but they are hoping England can do them a favor when they travel to current leaders Ireland in the late game at S.

Wales’ back line was carved to pieces by Italy even in victory.

France, who inflicted their worst defeat on England at Twickenham with a 53-10 thrashing last weekend, are ruthless in attack, which perhaps explains why Gatland have opted for the experience of North and Nick Tompkins in midfield. .

Louis Rees-Zammit starts at full-back instead of his usual winger position. No.8 Taulupe Faletau will win his 100th cap for Wales in a historic game for him.

For France, the Six Nations title remains a possibility as long as they beat Wales and Grand Slam-chasing Ireland lose at home to England. It seems unlikely that Ireland will fall short.

French strikers Uini Atonio and Romain Taofifenua are the only changes from the team that defeated England.

Wales is as big as 14/1 in places to come out on top in what is essentially a two-horse race. It perfectly tells the story of where the two sets are at the moment.

“To be in a position to win the Six Nations, we first have to face Wales and we can’t be wrong about who our opponents are,” France coach Fabien Galthie said.

‘We prefer to focus on our match, then we are in control of our destiny. After that, it’s not up to us.

France: bouquets; Penaud, Fickou, Danty, Dumortier; Ntamack, Dupont (captain); Baille, Marchand, Atonio, Flament, Taofifenua, Cros, Ollivon, Alldritt

Replacements: Mauvaka, Wardi, Falatea, Chalureau, Macalou, Lucu, Moefana, Jaminet

Welsh: Rees-Zammit; Adams, North, Tompkins, Dyer; Biggar, Webb; W Jones, Owens (capt), Francis, Beard, AW Jones, Wainwright, Tipuric, Faletau.

Replacements: Roberts, Thomas, Lewis, Jenkins, Refell, T Williams, O Williams, Halfpenny

Kick off: 2:45 p.m. Saturday

Event: Stade de France, Paris

Referee: Nic Berry (Australia)