wales
After Wales’ historic loss to England at the Principality Stadium on Saturday, interim head coach Matt Sherratt claimed the team’s 68-14 loss reopened some scars.
England produced one of their best performances for years to crush hapless Wales by a record 68-14 scoreline on Saturday.
The results gives England a chance of winning the title should France fail to beat Scotland later.
England have 20 points after winning four matches for the first time since taking the title in 2020 but France, on 16, will almost certainly top the standings with any sort of Paris victory in Paris due to their huge points-difference advantage.
Ireland finished on 19 points after a 22-17 win over Italy and Wales will come last for the second year in a row after their 17th successive defeat — a record for a Tier One nation since the game went professional.
England were in total control from the start and tries by Maro Itoje, Tom Roebuck, Tommy Freeman — who became the first Englishman to score in all five rounds of the competition — Chandler Cunningham-South and Will Stuart put them 33-7 ahead at halftime.
Debutant flanker Henry Pollock, 20, came off the bench to score two tries and Alex Mitchell, Joe Heyes and Cunningham-South crossed after the break to take the tally to 10.
England easily surpassed their previous biggest victory margin in Cardiff, the 43-9 success in a 2003 World Cup warm-up, and their previous highest score (44-15 in 2001).
For the second time in as many years, Wales came away with the wooden spoon in the championship after suffering their 17th consecutive Test loss.
Six Nations 2025
| P | W | B | +/- | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 – Ireland | 5 | 4 | 3 | 18 | 19 |
| 2 – France | 4 | 3 | 4 | 106 | 16 |
| 3 – England | 4 | 3 | 3 | 20 | 15 |
| 4 – Scotland | 4 | 2 | 3 | -3 | 11 |
| 5 – Italy | 5 | 1 | 1 | -82 | 5 |
| 6 – Wales | 4 | 0 | 3 | -65 | 3 |
This one hurt since Wales lost to Steve Borthwick’s team and gave up ten tries.
After Wales lost to France and Italy in the opening two rounds of the championship, Warren Gatland resigned, and Sherratt took over as interim manager. They lost despite showing improvement against Scotland and Ireland. Then England arrived and obliterated it.
Sherratt stated, “I am quite dissatisfied, there is no use in going into any detail really.”
“To be honest, it seemed like a game too many on that particular day, did not it? In my opinion, we must also acknowledge that the past seven or eight weeks have likely been quite emotional.
“Both the personnel and the playing group have experienced a great deal. Additionally, we lost the game today due to minor setbacks, which likely caused some rifts. Little things also went against us when we faced a strong England team.
“We know where we are, I suppose,” Sherratt said, declining to elaborate on a broad assessment of Welsh rugby’s current situation. And the goal is to proceed throughout the course of the upcoming weeks.”
Despite distancing himself from the position, Sherratt is still considered for the head coach position. In the upcoming weeks, the Welsh Rugby Union is anticipated to make announcements on the appointment of a new director of rugby and head coach for the men’s team. Sherratt also thinks that despite this historic loss, there are causes for hope.
“Yesterday [Friday], the [Wales] Under-20s had a successful victory. Sherratt remarked, “I believe there are some green shoots.”
“But pay attention, I believe we were aware of our position before to the launch of this campaign. That has not altered. After completing the upcoming appointments, the focus will shift to attempting to establish a foundation for the game.
However, it is always simple to focus on the national team, the regions, and the top of the pyramid. However, the academy, the foundations, and the grassroots are where any successful team begins. And that is what has to be improved.
In the next few days, Sherratt will provide some input to the WRU. He declared, “I am not a coach who is going to claim we lack power.” “It is my responsibility to discover a new path. So maybe as a country, we have improved our ball movement, shape, and attempt to play faster and one-on-one.
“As I already stated, my role was to assist the team. I am devastated that I was unable to assist them in winning. In all honesty, they deserve one. And today, of course, we were far from that.
