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The Principality Stadium roof is set to be closed on Sunday, but that will do little to keep away the dark clouds that circle above Welsh rugby in 2026. In the build up to this game the WRU have been dishing out free tickets to anyone who will take them, such is the lack of demand for what was until very recently the nation’s premier sporting event. Truthfully, many Wales fans are more excited to watch France than they are their own team.
Steve Tandy/Matt Sherratt has made 6 changes to the starting line-up that delivered an all time horror show against England with a clear aim of improving physicality. In many cases, they have gone with what the media and public wanted them to pick.
Rhys Carre, who has had one of the most tumultuous international careers of any Welsh player, comes in at loosehead and French 2nd division veteran Thomas Francis comes in at tighthead. France are not known for having a scrum that marches forward, so stability is the order of the day on that front. Between them remains captain Dewi Lake, who looks in desperate need of a hug and a holiday. He will be channeling the home crowd’s energy to put a career worst performance in England well behind him.
In the engine room, Daf Jenkins is also looking to shake off his worst ever Wales performance last week - although he has plenty of credit in the bank to deserve the chance to do so. Beside him, Adam Beard is also retained. Beard had by far his best game ball in hand for a long time for Wales at Twickenham, it’s just a shame his supposedly famous lineout and maul work went to absolute shit. Can’t have everything, right?
Probably the biggest head scratcher of the selection is in the back row where Tandy has opted for a brand new combination. Aaron Wainwright was statistically Wales’ best player in the last game but that hasn’t stopped the coaches from moving him to his less favoured position of blindside flank.
Alex Mann is also moved from his natural position of blindside over to openside, a perplexing decision given Josh MacLeod and Harri Deaves where two of Wales’ most impactful players against England yet are both dropped from the 23 entirely. However, since Matt Sherratt came into this Wales set-up, no one has started more tests than Alex Mann - clearly he is a valued player. Between them, Olly Cracknell is a change most fans were demanding, despite the fact this will only be his 2nd ever game for his country.
Into the backs and moving swiftly past the undroppable Tomos Williams, fly-half Dan Edwards is in need of a good game to justify the coaches’ faith in him. He’s still only 22 years old and like many young Welsh players has been thrown in at the deep end and told to swim. However, his performance at Twickenham was probably his worst yet for Wales; his defence was extremely poor and his tactical kicking was naive, badly executed and played right into England’s hands. The fact Wales have abandoned the 6-2 split to bring an alternative fly-half onto the bench shows how faith in him has wavered.
Behind Edwards is another change fans were demanding as Scarlets centre Joe Hawkins replaces Ben Thomas at 12 to partner his club-mate Eddie James. Hawkins should bring more defensive robustness and a level of cohesion with James, although it should be pointed out that despite playing for the same club, these two have only actually started together in the centres twice (although they did also play together at U20s level). Contrast the French connection of Brau-Borie and Gailleton who, despite being younger, are much more familiar and are arguably the form centre pairing in the TOP14.
As expected, the back three remains unchanged. Josh Adams was one of very few Welshmen to have a positive game in the last round whilst the Rees-Zammit fullback experiment is still worth pursuing and Ellis Mee will be hoping for more touches than he got last time out.
Elsewhere on the bench, Ryan Elias displaces Liam Belcher - again a change aimed at improved physicality. Lock Ben Carter and scrum-half Kieran Hardy will be hoping for more minutes than they got last week to impact the game.
The phrase ‘shot at redemption’ was used by one outlet to describe this game, but it is difficult to quantify what that actually looks like against a France team that are thrashing sides far stronger than Wales. Cutting out basic errors and scoring more than one try scored would be a start, but represents a bar so low as to not be worth discussing.
An ability to frustrate France in defence and an identity in attack would be positives, as well as any form of tactical astuteness or ingenuity. Ultimately, the scoreboard is probably best ignored as Wales desperately search for some form of start under Tandy, never mind showing signs of progress.
Wales Starting XV (1-15) Rhys Carre, Dewi Lake, Tomas Francis, Dafydd Jenkins, Adam Beard, Aaron Wainwright, Alex Mann, Olly Cracknell, Tomos Williams, Dan Edwards, Josh Adams, Joe Hawkins, Eddie James, Ellis Mee, Louis Rees-Zammit
Wales Replacements (16-23) Ryan Elias, Nicky Smith, Archie Griffin, Ben Carter, Taine Plumtree, Kieran Hardy, Jarrod Evans, Mason Grady
France Starting XV (1-15) Jean-Baptiste Gros, Julien Marchand, Dorian Aldegheri, Charles Ollivon, Mickael Guillard, Francois Cros, Oscar Jegou, Anthony Jelonch, Antoine Dupont, Matthieu Jalibert, Louis Bielle-Biarrey, Fabien Brau-Boirie, Emilien Gailleton, Theo Attissogbe, Thomas Ramos
France Replacements (16-23) Maxime Lamothe, Rodrigue Neti, Regis Montagne, Thibaud Flament, Emmanuel Meafou, Lenni Nouchi, Baptiste Serin, Noah Nene
