Wales ‘work to do’ before Scots visit

Alun Wyn Jones accepts that Wales have got “work to do” before resuming Guinness Six Nations action against Scotland.

Wales go into Saturday’s clash in Llanelli following a comprehensive 38 - 21 warm-up defeat by France in Paris that saw them hit a four- year low in terms of results.

It is the first time since 2 01 6 that Wa l e s h av e suffered four successive defeats, with three Six Nations reversals earlier this year having put them out of title contention.

And France’s five- tr y effort, inspired by scrumhalf Antoine Dupont, was also the most points Wales have shipped to a European team for 13 years.

He a d coach

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Pivac’s only victories from six starts since succeeding Warren Gatland remain against Italy and the Barbarians, while 15 tries have been conceded across four games.

“There are no excuses of rust from a player point of view,” Jones said, after Wales’ first fixture for seven months.

“We are into a competitive match of a Six Nations game next week. We have a short week to put that right, and that’s going to be our focus.

“I thought our game management was ver y good in patches, but France capitalised on a couple of turnovers and some loose kicks on the counterattack, and they got across the whitewash.

“It’s a quick turnaround for Scotland and we’ve got work to do to get ready for that.”

Wales led 10-0 after eight minutes behind closed doors at the Stade de France, but were then reeled in and overhauled as Les Bleus underlined the threat they pose to Six Nations title rivals Ireland.

Jones added: “We are very disappointed with the result.

“I thought we decent in patches.

“We had a very good start to the first half and probably didn’t capitalise as much as we would like to have done in the period after that score.

“Probably around the 65-minute mark, a couple of loose kicks and they got a couple of tries on the counter- attack and the game ended up beyond us.”

Jones, who is set to break Richie McCaw’s 148-Test world appearance record in six days’ time, was on the receiving end of a forearm to the face from France lock Bernard Le Roux.

Wales skipper Jones did not comment on the incident, but it is likely to be scrutinised by the match commissioner, with Le Roux facing a possible citing. were

Alun Wyn Jones.