PRIDE WON’T HEAL OUR PAIN
Captain Jones reveals the agony of missing out on a Grand Slam in the most cruel circumstances
NO ONE has played more Test matches for their country than Alun Wyn Jones.
But even in his lenghty career, the Wales captain can never have felt as empty as when Brice Dulin stole the Grand Slam from under his side’s noses on Saturday night.
Jones did not care to make a comparison in grief in the numbing wake of the injury-time try which gave France victory in Paris.
But despite their contribution to a game for the ages, there was nothing but despair for Wales. Josh Navidi (below) described the dressing room as “bleak”.
That was an understatement having come so close to greatness only for the prize to be so cruelly snatched away with the clock in the red.
Wales were outstanding for 70 minutes but will relive those nightmare final 10 minutes forever.
“There’s no consolation in pride,” said Jones. “It’s something you feel and put value on, but we came here to win.
“I thought we were pretty good for the 80-odd minutes of the game and obviously in the final play France edged it.
“They built the pressure in those final minutes and indiscipline probably cost us, but credit to France for getting the win.
“Pressure created error and we fell into that trap.
“For this tournament it’s disappointing. The way we’ve gone throughout the tournament and off the back of the Autumn
Nations Cup, we had an avalanche in terms improvement of performances, but obviously fell short.”
As France coach Fabien Galthie put it: “The Welsh stopped boxing after the 11th round.”
How a 10-point lead with a man advantage after Paul Willemse’s red card became a two-point loss with Taulupe Faletau and Liam Williams in the sin-bin was a tale of unravelling discipline which left Wales on the wrong end of a 14-6 penalty count.
That, and France’s clarity of mind and execution which saw captain Charles Ollivon and fullback Dulin cross in the last three minutes.
Perhaps it should never have come to that. France were fortunate not to concede a penalty try just before the hour when Wales’s maul was in full flow. That could have put them out of sight. But Jones refused to make a big deal of a call which saw only a penalty and a yellow card for Mohamed Haouas.
“We’ve benefited from decisions, so it would be remiss of me and uncouth if I was to shout from the rooftops about decisions that could have gone our way. The sport isn’t about that,” he said. “We felt we had done enough in that phase of play to be rewarded, irrelevant of whatever indiscipline there was. We didn’t get it and we have to move on.
“Sometimes these tapes aren’t the ones you chuck in the bin, they are the ones you keep in the memory bank and they last a lot longer than the ones where you win.”