As the 2026 Six Nations began, one thing became clear instantly. Clearly, shipping 102 points against both England and France proved that Wales lacked the quality against the championship’s most proven combatants.
However, something even clearer was made: head coach Steve Tandy needed help. Prior to those matches, his side conceded 200 points across four Test matches, sugarcoating the challenges the 45-year-old faces.
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Everything that could have gone wrong did go so cruelly wrong. If it wasn’t for the position that Welsh rugby finds itself in today, then conceding 302 points surely would have been a sackable offence for any head coach.
But one thing you’ve got to applaud is the resilience that Tandy and his side showed in Wales’ final three matches against Scotland, Ireland, and Italy.
In a time of crisis, albeit still two losses and only one defeat, Welsh rugby on the international stage began smiling again.
Their defensive displays in these matches were far superior and met the high standards Tandy would undoubtedly have expected.
Talking of standards, new defence coach Peter Murchie stated in his first press conference since beginning the role that it is demanding for players to continue in this form.
“I demand high standards, so I look to try to build relationships with the players and build accountability as a group,” Murchie said.
“I think when I’m on the pitch, I’m demanding of a standard to get better and improve.
“I work well with players and look to build leadership within the group so we can grow.
“They obviously had a difficult start, but I think you saw in the third, fourth and fifth games major improvements.
“We should have won the Scotland game, and then the performance in Ireland was a really physical one against one of the top teams in the world.
“It culminated in a really good win against Italy, who are on the up.
“You saw that gradual or major improvement as the tournament went on.
“It didn’t start the way we wanted it to, but by the end, there’d been growth in the player group and the team where the performances had really improved.”
That defeat against Scotland in particular, they still conceded four tries, and the fallow week could not have come at a worse time, Wales began firing and started showing fight and stubbornness in defence.
Wales were crying out for a hero, several in the case of the coaching lineup, as at that time they only had three people signed on a full-time basis, including Tandy, as secondments were handed out for other roles.
Danny Wilson and attack coach Matt Sherratt were those permanent selections. Identity began to grow in areas of the game where Wales, since their quarter-final run at the last Rugby World Cup in France, had stumbled drastically.
Wales can’t afford to take a step back now and admire their somewhat improvements. Not this summer anyway. That’s because Tandy and his new additions to his coaching team need to firmly start building towards the 2027 Rugby World Cup.
Murchie came into the Welsh camp last Monday (June 15), where he began his new permanent role as he now has big shoes to fill following one of Wales’ greatest coaches, Shaun Edwards.
“Obviously, Shaun Edwards is a world-class defence coach,” he added.
“I’m not going to compare myself to Shaun Edwards, but we want success. You don’t come into a new group and not want success.
“We want success, and we want to be part of this group being better. For me, that means doing my job at a world-class level.
“That’s the challenge for me to be the best I can so that we can get the group where we need to.”
Wales face the Barbarians on Saturday afternoon at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham, where the Welsh public will see for the first time Murchie’s influence on his side’s defence against the Harlem Globetrotters of rugby.
Following that meeting in south-west London, Wales will then face Fiji in an ‘away’ fixture at the Cardiff City Stadium, before then travelling to Argentina and South Africa.
On his first campaign as defence coach, Murchie added: “It’s a good couple of games to start off with. It’s great that we get this fixture against the Barbarians at Twickenham.
“It’s a bit different. It’s good because it narrows the focus on yourself as well.
“They’ll probably have plays and plans as the Barbarians normally do, but ultimately, you’ve got to concentrate on yourselves.
“It’s been good this week. It’s the first game building into an important summer series for us. The challenge Fiji will present, it’s really important we make the most out of every minute we have on the training field.
“It’s a great opportunity at Twickenham to start our summer campaign in the right way,” Murchie concluded.
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