Limp Wales happy to be Six Nations underdogs

AFTER hobbling through another underwhelming autumn, Wales will regather for the Six Nations in seven weeks time as severe underdogs. You suspect that is how they like it, and there was a telling admission after this unconvincing victory from Warren Gatland. ‘A lot of people are talking up other teams so, from our point of view, long may that continue,’ said the head coach. No one is talking up Wales. Not after a 13th consecutive loss to Australia, a 29th consecutive defeat by New Zealand, a muddy — and controversial — win over Georgia and this latest victory against a South Africa side only really recognisable as true Springboks because of the colour of their shirts and emblems on their chests. But Gatland remains unbeat, saying: ‘The Six Nations is our competition. It will potentially be the closest Six Nations for a long time. We have been a bit limited with the amount of injuries we have picked up, but I was pleased for a lot of the players. We hope to get a few players back from injury to strengthen the squad.’ On the plus side, flanker Josh Navidi, prop Rob Evans and wing Hallam Amos impressed. And with Hadleigh Parkes combining power and deftness of hand in the centre there are rays of sunshine. The converted Kiwi scored twice on debut, both after influential involvements from Dan Biggar, and in doing so became the first man to achieve that feat for Wales since George North seven years ago. Wales led 21-3 in the first half but South Africa could have won if not for a wrongly denied Malcolm Marx score, or drawn if Handre Pollard had not hit a post with the conversion to his score. All in all, Wales have been middling enough to fly nicely under the radar in 2018 — and they will enjoy that.