Wales missing ‘killer instinct’

Wales full-back Lee Byrne admitted they must adopt a more hard-nosed approach if they are to compete with the best.

A 28-9 Six Nations defeat to France on Saturday saw Wales slump from second in the table to finish fourth.

Warren Gatland’s side had gone into the Paris match knowing an unlikely 27-point winning margin would have given them the title at England’s expense.

“Physically we are in great shape but the killer instinct is something we can get better at,” Byrne said.

“France came out fired up from their defeat last week against Italy and they did a job on us, to be honest.

“We just didn’t turn up. We know we are a better team than that, so it is a disappointing finish after the hard work we have put in.

“It will be a while now before we can pull the jersey on again and make things right. Hopefully, we can go out here next time and compete better, because it was shocking at times.”

Welsh errors gifted France lock Lionel Nallet two tries, while wing Vincent Clerc also crossed for France thanks to Trinh-Duc’s brilliant chip.

One highlight of Wales’ 2011 campaign has been the performance of their pack, but at the Stade de France were too often turned over at the breakdown or had clean possession spoilt.

“They dominated us up front and we’ve come away second best,” said Wales captain Matthew Rees.

“The ruck it’s an area they looked at and challenged us there, and there were a lot of errors there. We gave them easy ball and they capitalised on it.

“There were some instances where they came in from the side but you’ve got to play the referee at the end of the day and they got away with it.

“Obviously we’re disappointed with the result but we’ve had three good wins against Scotland, Italy and Ireland… but as players we’ve got to look at ourselves and learn from this.”

Wales are now not in action until they face the Barbarians on 4 June, before starting their World Cup warm-ups in earnest next August with back-to-back games against England and a one-off Test with Argentina.

Gatland’s side commence their World Cup campaign on 11 September against Pool D favourites South Africa in Wellington, before facing Samoa, Namibia and Fiji.