Warren Gatland: Improvements will put Wales in good shape for World Cup

Progress on the field was once again seen in the 41-28 defeat to France yesterday at the Stade de France in Paris with Wales giving a good account of themselves running in four tries in a pulsating contest.

In an action-packed encounter which saw nine tries between the two sides in total, Gatland’s side had taken a surprise lead with George North scoring early.

France responded and whilst under par in the first period would lead through clinical flowing finishes from Damien Penaud and Jonathan Denty.

The second period the French would show their superiority with further scores for Uini Atonio, Gael Fickou and Penaud’s second to put the game to bed and put the result beyond doubt.

Wales to their credit would fight hard and pulled the scoreline back to respectability with scores from replacements Bradley Roberts and Tomas Williams and Rio Dyer.

It was a fifth placed finish for the Welsh, but Gatland feels the progress made has put his side in a better position to compete in the autumn tournament.

“I’m really proud, still got a lot of work to do but I thought we showed some real character today,” said Gatland.

“We started the game well, tried to play some really positive rugby, we were behind and got back again.

“We were positive, we could’ve taken three points early on but we got the first try from George North and put France under a lot of pressure.

“We will continue to get better. Some of the youngsters did well. Bradley Roberts was energetic, Dafydd Jenkins was great, Tomos Williams did well.

“I thought the bench made a huge difference compared to the other games so a lot of work to do but some improvements.

“I was thinking at 13 points down with 10 minutes to go that if we score again then this will be a really interesting end to the game.

“I wanted to find out about a number of players, give some of those youngsters an opportunity and they would’ve learned from these experiences.

“We’ve still got a lot of work to do and as the tournament went on we’ve improved and I’m confident that with the time we’ve got ahead of the World Cup, we’ll be in good shape and be better than we are at the moment.

“I think we’ll give a few teams a surprise come World Cup time.

“I told the players, if we do the work required, not just on fitness but skills, contact work and find a tune out of that, then I’m confident we’re going to have a really positive World Cup.”

(Lead image: Six Nations Rugby)