Steve Tandy: Wales have no ‘God-given right’ to beat Italy despite improvement

Wales, who began the tournament with hammerings at the hands of England and France, will attempt to avoid a third successive wooden spoon when the Azzurri visit Cardiff on ‘Super Saturday’.

Tandy believes a first championship win since 2023 is “around the corner” but warned against taking anything for granted.

“Listen, we believe we can win games but it’s easy now to go and think just because we’ve had (encouraging) performances that the win will come,” he said.

“International sport doesn’t work like that. We’re a team that can’t cut corners. There’s still a reality check.

“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 next Saturday.”

Italy have won on their last two visits to Cardiff – including ending a seven-year Six Nations losing run with a shock 22-21 victory at the Principality Stadium in 2022 – and three of the past four meetings with Wales.

Gonzalo Quesada’s side began the current championship by upsetting Scotland 18-15 in Rome before pushing Ireland hard in a 20-13 away defeat.

“They’ve grown, they went through probably a similar thing to us for a long period of time,” said Tandy.

“But I do believe the win is around the corner for us.

“That win will only come if we keep going back to getting better at what we’re doing.

“We have to accelerate faster than others because ultimately we are (ranked) 12th in the world and we are 12th in the world for a reason.

“We have to come back in on Monday prepared to earn the right to get into the situations where we can win games.”

Wales trailed just 12-10 at half-time at the Aviva Stadium after prop Rhys Carre claimed a fine solo score in response to tries from Jacob Stockdale and Jack Crowley.

Second-half efforts from Jack Conan and Jamie Osborne, either side of James Botham’s try, helped Ireland over the line.

Replays suggested the hosts benefited from a forward pass in the build-up to Osborne’s 68th-minute finish, a sequence which also resulted in a yellow card for Wales scrum-half Tomos Williams.

“I did have a look at it – I was trying to get some messages on (to the pitch),” said Tandy. “It’s fine margins in Test-match sport.

“But for us as a group, I’m not going to sit here and quibble about one or two moments in the game because there are so many moments, and the only thing that is going to get us better is ourselves.

“It isn’t going to change the result now.”

Captain Dewi Lake praised the team’s progress.

“The confidence in the group has grown massively, our belief has grown, and that’s such a powerful thing, belief,” he said.

“We’ve seen the growth in this group from round one to round four and if we can keep growing – whether it’s massive growth or incremental growth – then that win is just around the corner.”