The tower of unsold tickets for Wales against France is a form of boycott. The late scramble to fill the 74,000-seat Principality Stadium is one part indifference and the other indignation.
A blow to the Welsh Rugby Union’s finances (more than 50% of its revenue comes from men’s domestic internationals), the reported giving-away of tickets for the France match to stewards could initiate a wave of pressure that finally forces an awakening.
That’s the upbeat interpretation. Meanwhile, a definition of what Wales don’t need now is the French sweeping into Cardiff playing a brand of total rugby, as they did in their 36-14 victory over Ireland.
It’s a remarkable stat that in 105 fixtures, Wales and France have each won 51 times (the others were draws). Not even the wildest Welsh dreamer could expect their country to wake up tomorrow morning 52-51 in front. The 15,400 who left seats unoccupied as of Friday morning (6,700 still unsold for the Scotland game and 27,000 for Italy) evidently can’t face the indignity. If they are missing out, it’s not on watching Wales so much as seeing France in regal flow.
Wales’s head coach Steve Tandy has made four changes to the side squashed by England. In come Joe Hawkins (centre), Olly Cracknell (No 8) and the props Rhys Carré and Tomas Francis.
In club rugby, France’s Top 14 is churning out stars. The latest is the 20-year-old Pau centre Fabien Brau-Boirie, who makes his Test debut. In Wales, the regions are being shrunk acrimoniously from four to three. Rebellion is in the air.
But they won’t have time to dwell on the political context when La Marseillaise strikes up in Cardiff. The task list is too long. Start defending properly, stop haemorrhaging tries, start attacking credibly and stop giving away penalties and piling up yellow cards.
Against England at the Allianz Stadium, Wales were twice down to 13 men. By the 18th minute, Nicky Smith and Dewi Lake were both in the sin bin. In the second half, Ben Thomas and Taine Plumtree took the seats of Smith and Lake in the holding pen. In Tandy’s first five games in charge, Wales have amassed 10 yellow cards and one red. Plumtree has been sent to the bin in three consecutive matches for Wales. The team granted 16 penalties to England. Assistant coach Matt Sherratt called the debrief from that match “a bit of a grieving process”.
Referees and touch judges joined training this week to help “stop controllable penalties” such as offsides. Tandy described the mood in the camp as “prickly”.
In Tandy’s first five games, Wales have conceded 65 penalties, 248 points and 34 tries. And that’s with a former British and Irish Lions defence coach in charge.
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Plainly Wales’s 22 defeats in 24 Tests have demoralised the players. Welsh legends criticised them after the England game for being passive in defence and in one case “not trying hard enough”. Demoralisation and indiscipline are often linked. Despair distorts judgment. Players arrive at the point of simply not coping. The whole of Wales must hope that the side are not driven there again by French majesty.
By the time that they face the best half-back partnership in world rugby – Antoine Dupont at No 9 and Matthieu Jalibert at 10 – 1,464 days will have passed since Wales last won a Six Nations game at home – against Scotland, in February 2022.
Against Ireland, Louis Bielle-Biarrey was formidable on the wing for France and Thomas Ramos made 116 metres with the ball – the furthest of any player in round one of this year’s Six Nations. The forwards were rhythmically ruthless.
No box office would find it easy to sell tickets for an event that’s viewed as a fait accompli. This is the cycle that Wales will need to break, with a credible, spirited, promise-rich performance. As the daffodils sprout, the Principality is no place for tumbleweed.
Photograph by Paul Ellis/AFP via Getty Images