Wales make progress - can they take the next step and start winning?

ByGareth Griffiths

BBC Sport Wales

Positivity and progression. They were the overwhelming feelings about Wales' encouraging performance against Ireland in the 27-17 Six Nations defeat.

Suffering yet another international loss can not be ignored, but there has been some pride restored after some Irish pundits were denigrating Welsh rugby before Friday's game.

The individuals that matter, like Ireland head coach Andy Farrell, were not laughing.

In every question Farrell was asked afterwards, he came back to the same assessment. How impressed he had been with Wales.

Plucky losers is a tag Wales have struggled to acquire in recent times because of some of the record hammerings they have suffered.

There have been vast improvements against Scotland and Ireland, but turning that into wins is now the challenge for Wales head coach Steve Tandy.

Wales are bidding to avoid a clean sweep of defeats for the third successive Six Nations when they host Italy on the final weekend.

Perform like they did under the Friday night lights at Aviva Stadium and they might just have a chance.

Despite the positive vibes, Wales' losing Six Nations streak has stretched to 15 matches, with the previous victory in the tournament coming against Italy in March 2023.

Wales have lost 25 out of the previous 27 internationals with the only two victories achieved against Japan.

"We believe we can win games, but it is easy now to go and think just because we've had performances, the win will come," said head coach Steve Tandy.

"International sport doesn't work like that. We can't cut corners.

"There's still the reality check of, just because we've had performances which is creating confidence and belief in our group, we haven't got a God-given right to go and get a win against Italy.

"They went through a similar thing to us for a long period of time and it took a while to get there."

Captain Dewi Lake says the win is coming which Tandy hopes will prove correct.

"I believe the win is around the corner for us," said Tandy.

"We are asking this group how can we accelerate, but also know we have to do that faster than others because we are 12th in the world for a reason.

"We have to earn the right to get into situations where we can win games."

Cardiff flanker Alex Mann typified the Welsh defensive display against Ireland as Tandy's side made more than 240 tackles.

It was not just the number, it was the impact of the rearguard resistance, demonstrated by a thunderous tackle by Eddie James on Garry Ringrose.

Tackle statistics often differ as the tally is frequently revised after a match. If Mann made 32 or 33 tackles depending on which facts and figures you follow, that would be a Six Nations record surpassing France hooker Guilhem Guirado and Wales lock Luke Charteris, who both managed 31 in one game.

Mann's fellow Cardiff flanker James Botham, lock Dafydd Jenkins and captain Lake were not far behind in the tackle charts.

Tandy has only picked Mann and Lake to start in all eight matches in his era and praised his dogged back rower.

"Manny [Alex Mann] has been outstanding," said Tandy.

"He doesn't get the plaudits he deserves, there's always probably question marks over him whereas we see the player both sides of the ball.

"He's not the biggest man in the world, but he's growing as a leader as well and only going to get better."

Former Wales centre Jamie Roberts hailed the defensive effort.

"I thought they were magnificent," Roberts told ITV.

"We know how physical Ireland are, but Wales stopped that green wave dead in its tracks on many occasions and they can take huge pride from that.

"We've talked about Wales being a bit soft, maybe, in the past year, teams finding it easy to score easy tries against them.

"This was very different, that level of defensive intensity was brilliant."

Tandy also pointed to the improved discipline with Wales only conceding seven penalties, despite being under pressure.

Welsh rugby has not had much to smile about in the past couple of years. But the elation on Carre's face when he burst clear for his superb solo effort brought some overdue joy to his team and the nation with some amusing memes going around social media.

Carre's reaction afterwards was more low-key.

"I saw some space and went as hard as I could and no one caught me," said Carre.

He was deemed not fit enough for international rugby by previous Wales coaches Wayne Pivac and Warren Gatland, but the Saracens prop has been brought back into the fold by Tandy.

This Friday night showing in Dublin showed why that decision had been made.

Carre became the first Welsh prop to score in three successive internationals and only the fifth prop in international rugby history.

It evoked memories of props who have scored famous Welsh tries like Gethin Jenkins' individual effort against Namibia in the 2011 World Cup and the score in the Grand Slam against Ireland six years earlier when he charged down Ronan O'Gara's kick.

The older generation will remember Graham Price's effort against France in 1975 in Paris and Charlie Faulkner scoring in Cardiff a couple of years later.

Carre, who is Wales' leading try and points scorer in this tournament, says he would trade the Ireland score for a victory.

"That Welsh heart and fight is always there, things are slowly getting better," said Carre.

"We are showing our people we are coming back and getting there.

"We are showing Welsh fans, and everybody around the rugby world, that while we are not back yet, we are closer than people think."

For a second successive game, Wales were on the wrong end of some borderline refereeing decisions.

Against Scotland there was obstruction missed in the build-up to the match-winning try, while there were doubts about two of Ireland's tries.

Firstly there was a suggestion of a knock-on and obstruction for Jack Conan's score and there appeared to be a forward pass missed before Jamie Osborne crossed.

Tandy appears to have a policy of not blaming officiating decisions for defeats.

"There's lots of stuff we could go over, but ultimately we are not a team that probably gets the rub of the green at the minute," said Tandy.

"It's fine margins in Test match sport. For us as a group I'm not going to sit here and quibble about one or two moments in a game because there's so many moments.

"It isn't going to change the result now. The only thing that's going to get us better is ourselves."

Tandy is more concerned with Wales controlling their own destiny and despite the positive nature of the defeat, they will need to address a few things.

Wales need to be converting almost all of their chances and the first-half failure to cross the line was compounded by Josh Adams and Botham failing to finish off a flowing move early in the second half.

Fly-half Dan Edwards, who returned to start instead of the injured Sam Costelow, endured a mixed evening with some wayward, and at times, cautious kicking.

The make-up of the backline and the effectiveness in attack will also evoke debate.

Is Eddie James an inside centre rather than outside centre?

Are Wales utilising the attacking abilities of Louis Rees-Zammit from full-back or should he return to the wing?

Tandy will also reflect on his own replacement choices.

Prop Nicky Smith and number eight Olly Cracknell made impressive impacts when they came on after half-time, but should Wales have also utilised half-backs Kieran Hardy and Jarrod Evans instead of leaving them as unused replacements?

Those are among the questions for Wales to resolve before next weekend's finale against Italy in Cardiff.

Maybe then that elusive win will finally come.