Yes, Ben Thomas was playing his first Six Nations minutes at fly half in the absence of the snubbed Gareth Anscombe, but outside him he had a 92-cap Liam Williams, 59-cap Josh Adams, 42-cap Owen Watkin and 38-cap Nick Tompkins, with Tomos Williams another experienced operator at scrum half.
Despite a solid enough start, Wales wilted to a 13th consecutive defeat against France in Paris to set up a must-win clash with Italy in Rome.
Anscombe may come into his thinking if he wants a steadier head to steer the sheep, while the fly half’s Gloucester teammate Max Llewellyn was an equally perplexing omission from the initial party and would add carrying might and menace to the midfield.
Two short years after giving their hosts a run for their money with four tries of their own, a pointless effort marked another low in this deep, prolonged depression that Wales just can’t seem to shake.
While batting away the suggestion of whether this was his most important fixture across nearly two decades in charge, Gatland admitted that the consequence of the encounter with Italy would not be lost on his charges.
