October 7 2023 - Lando Norris hadn't won a race, Mauricio Pochettino was ten games into his Chelsea reign, no one knew who Luke Littler was and Wales won a rugby match. Since then three of those things have changed. Norris is seen as a world championship contender, Pochettino is now the USA boss and Littler is champion of the world. Wales though are still seeking that winning feeling. When they beat Georgia 43-19 at the Rugby World Cup few could've believed they'd be going into the 2025 Six Nations without a win in 16 months but that is the reality.
On that day in Nantes a certain Louis Rees-Zammit scored a hat-trick. The darling of Welsh rugby decided months later that rugby wasn't for him, he wanted to try his hand at NFL. Since leaving for the USA he's been signed by the Kansas City Chiefs, released by them, signed by the Jacksonville Jaguars, released by them. All the while Wales still haven't won without him. On Friday they head to the Stade de France to take on the French. Paris hasn't been a happy hunting ground as of late and they've won just once in their last five visits. Last year they shipped 45 points as Les Blues tore them apart in Cardiff en route to five losses out of five.
Wales and Warren Gatland finished with the wooden spoon as people on the outside continue to question whether the great New Zealand coach was right to return for a second stint in charge as coach. The golden generation have all pretty much retired and the domestic game is in a bad way, leaving him with an even tougher job. It is 12 games without a win. A full calendar year without a win. Fiji landed a first ever win Wales in that time. Gatland's team shipped at least 30 points on six occasions.
Best case scenario: They upset all the odds in France and win for the first time in 482 days. In that time you could fit in the Tour de France 23 times. Sam Warburton captained the team to numerous successes, including Six Nations titles and Grand Slams, but back in the autumn he said: "For Welsh fans, I think we've got to realise this is where we are it, we're in a bit of a dark place and it might take a while to come out of it.".
Gatland has selected a squad for the Six Nations that includes 18 players who have ten caps or less. Several of the starters who will play in the Six Nations opener against France have no idea what it feels like to win a game of international rugby. Wales' next two months will see them travel to France, Scotland and Italy. They'll host England and Ireland. The British and Irish Lions head to Australia this summer and when people jot down their provisional guesses at what the squad might look like there are next to no Welshman in it.
That is a reflection of where they're at. The sporting world continues to move, landscapes change both in and out of rugby, but one thing that has remained a constant for nearly a year and a half is a Wales team trying and failing to win games. Despite that Gatland, a man who offered his resignation after last year's dire Six Nations, only for it to be rejected, is seeing their current plight as something to get up for.
He said: "It is the most exciting challenge. I look back to the World Cup in France, where a lot of people were predicting we would not get out of that group. One of the things I said is 'write us off at your peril'.". Meanwhile, research has revealed that England supporters are the group rugby fans would least like to be stuck with in the pub during this year’s Guinness Six Nations. In a survey conducted by MiXR, the pub and bar loyalty app, more than 43 per cent of rugby fans named England supporters as the group they would most like to avoid when heading to their local to watch the tournament.
