A desperately disappointed Wales captain Dewi Lake admitted that his side had let themselves down in a heavy Six Nations defeat to England.
The visitors were thrashed 48-7 at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham in another galling day for Welsh rugby after off-field strife disrupted their build-up to this campaign.
Lake was one of four players sent to the sin bin as Wales’s discipline let them down, conceding 10 penalties in the first 21 minutes as England accelerated out of sight for a second year in a row in this fixture.
The skipper was one of four Ospreys in Steve Tandy’s matchday squad who are still digesting the news of the Welsh Rugby Union’s apparent plans to fold the United Rugby Championship (URC) side at the end of next season.
Lake refused, though, to use that turmoil as an excuse as he reflected on a difficult day.
“We let ourselves down and let people down,” Lake said. “We spoke all week about what we were going to produce and we didn’t do it.
“There’s no other way to say it. We’re massively disappointed with what we put on the field today. Ultimately, we put ourselves under that pressure. The penalty count, the cards. That’s on us. It didn’t feel under massive pressure in that first 15 minutes.
“For us, it’s about turning it into accuracy and flipping that into our favour. We didn’t produce what we said we were going to do. We weren’t accurate enough when we had opportunities. You can’t do that against one of the form teams in world rugby.”
Wales are still seeking a first win in this competition since 2023, and next host a France side bouncing after a sizeable win over Ireland.
Another tough outing may beckon for Tandy’s side, but Lake urged the people of Wales to get behind their side in Cardiff.
“Every voice matters to us at the minute, every fan that can get behind us,” he said. “We know we’re going to be better next week. We’ve spoken a lot about wanting to excite a nation. We didn’t do it today. We’ve got another four games in this tournament and we’ll make sure we do it next week.
