‘I hope I’m wrong’ – Sir Clive Woodward believes Wales have ‘hit the skids’ with Italy ‘firm favourites’ in round two

Sir Clive Woodward believes that Italy are firm favourites against Wales in round two of the Six Nations.
Ex-England head coach Sir Clive Woodward has rued the performances of Wales but hopes that Warren Gatland’s charges can turn things around in round two of the Six Nations.
Gatland has now overseen 13 successive Test defeats following his side’s ‘humiliating’ loss to France where they failed to score a single point and conceded seven tries.
“A proud rugby nation has hit the skids”
The defeat sees Wales prop up the Six Nations table after round one as pressure continues to build on the head coach as another possible Wooden Spoon finish looms.
This makes their second match of the Championship all the more important as they go up against the Azzurri, who have claimed two victories out of the three recent meetings with Wales.
Italy are perennial Six Nations Wooden Spooners having finished in last place in 18 of the 25 tournaments they have been involved in but they bucked that trend last year with Wales taking the unofficial tag.
Considering the performances in round one, Woodward believes that Italy are now ‘firm favourites’ for the meeting in Rome this weekend.
“France beating Wales in the first game was no surprise. But the scale of the scoreline and the fact the Welsh failed to notch a single point was confirmation to me that a proud rugby nation has hit the skids,” he wrote in his Sports Mail column.
“To not score at all in a Six Nations game is humiliating. Wales don’t have the physical ball carriers to get across the gainline and as a result, their attack is predictable.”
He added: “Their game with Italy on Saturday is absolutely enormous. I hope I’m wrong – because I like Wales and Warren Gatland – but on the evidence of the game in Paris, I just can’t see them winning. Italy are firm favourites.”
Italy should be confident
Woodward reserved praise for Italy too as the Azzurri have shaken off their tag as the ‘Six Nations whipping boys’ after claiming wins over Scotland and Wales last year while drawing to France as well.
Gonzalo Quesada’s side fought valiantly against the Scots at Murrayfield in round one but they struggled to land the killer blows, scoring just once – through a Juan Ignacio Brex intercept try.
Still, the former England head coach feels that they should be confident of notching up a victory in round two.
“In the past, we’ve seen the Azzurri be hammered regularly. That doesn’t happen as often now,” Woodward wrote.
“When Italy quickly fell 14-0 down in Edinburgh on Saturday, they could have thrown in the towel. That’s what previous Azzurri sides would have done. Instead, Italy came back to 19-19 and at the hour, I thought there was an upset on.
“Italy should be confident of beating Wales and their centre pairing of Juan Ignacio Brex and Tommaso Menoncello is excellent.”
Wales setbacks, Italy target improvements
Wales have been dealt a further setback in their pursuit of a first win since the Rugby World Cup with Aaron Wainwright in doubt for the clash with Italy after sustaining a facial injury in the opening minutes of the defeat to France.
Centre Owen Watkin was also helped off the pitch after sustaining a knee injury which is likely to rule him out of the Rome meeting.
This has led to a call-up for Scarlets forward Taine Plumtree while Sale Sharks tighthead prop WillGriff John has re-joined the squad as they continued their preparations in Nice.
Meanwhile, Quesada believes that the longer the squad is together, the better they will get after conceding soft points against Scotland.
“We didn’t have the opportunity to work together for too long,” he said after the match.
“This was certainly evident in some situations, we need to continue spending time together, working harder, but we still came close to playing a great match this afternoon.
“It’s a defeat that hurts because we conceded a few easy points in the first match on situations that we are easily able to defend effectively, now we immediately start to concentrate on the match on Saturday in Rome against Wales, a very intense and demanding week awaits us, it’s a match that everyone is waiting for but the reality for us is that we will prepare for it in the best possible way, as we always prepare for all our matches.”