Six Nations 2026: Five talking points from round two

These are tough times to be a Wales fan. The toughest moment in living memory for a generation that grew up with steady Six Nations success and a star-studded team including Sam Warburton and Alun Wyn Jones.

There are plenty of problems in Welsh rugby, but by all accounts the latest results are a horror show, as Sunday’s record loss to France led to a record 13 consecutive Six Nations defeat and a 10th straight defeat at home in the championship.

It has been 1,072 days since their last Six Nations victory against Italy in Rome in March 2023 and 1,464 days since their last title win at home against Scotland in February 2022.

It looks like fans are starting to vote with their feet. Attendance against France was 57,744, making it the lowest attendance for the Six Nations in Cardiff.

But speaking on BBC One after the game, former captain Warburton said he was encouraged by parts of Wales’ play and said they needed to look at the things that were going well, such as attacking defence, outside lines and the performance of Eddie James.

“Some aspects of the game went quite well, they didn’t get any stronger, they fell behind in terms of possession. There are some positives to consider next week,” Warburton said.

“When we look at the little wins, there’s no point in kicking them when we’re behind. One has to think about how we can get better from this point? Which young players seem to have that mentality?

“We’re not trying to fix this in a week, we’ve been at this for a few years so let’s tighten up a little bit and look for small improvements every week and move forward.”

Jones said there were “definitely green shoots.”

“The effort was there but this is international rugby and you will be judged on results but in terms of effort it was there,” he added.

Former England captain Martin Johnson also offered words of encouragement.

“Wales can always play and score goals, they’ve got good rugby players so you’re never that far away and they might sit there and think they’ve lost at home to a very good French team. But there will be some games where they think we can win it.”