Steve Tandy was left “bitterly disappointed” after Wales’ Six Nations 48-7 opener unravelled under the weight of their own inaccuracies against England at the Allianz Stadium.
From the opening quarter, Wales struggled to manage territory or pressure, repeatedly undoing promising moments with penalties and set-piece errors.
The contest effectively turned during a spell with two players in the sin bin, leaving Wales to defend with 13 men for long periods against a side already in control.
The head coach of the Welsh national team said: “We’ve let ourselves down.
“ We spoke all week about what we were gonna do, what we were gonna produce, and we didn’t do it.
“The first half was ill-disciplined again.
“We didn’t get any foothold in the game and couldn’t create momentum.”
Tandy, who has been head coach since September 2025, spoke about Wales’ inability to convert pressure into territory as the critical flaw.
He said: “We were going into their 22. We give a penalty away. Then from that line up, we give another penalty away.
“There’s lots of frustration and you can see that probably crept into a game when you go to England to go and repeat line outs.
“And then playing the game with 13 men for nearly 20 minutes of the game is hard.”
While effort remained, Tandy admitted Wales lacked the accuracy to survive those lapses.
Tandy said: “We’re not a good enough team to have these big lapses. We’ve got to be more accurate and I’m bitterly disappointed.”
Captain Dewi Lake echoed that analysis, rejecting effort as a factor and instead highlighting decision-making under pressure.
Lake said: “We put ourselves under that pressure.
“The penalties and cards are on us.
“This group will fight for each other all day. That’s no question of effort.”
Lake added that the frustration lay in failing to translate ambition into execution.
He said: “We didn’t produce what we said we were going to.
”We weren’t accurate enough when we had opportunities and you can’t do that against one of the four teams in the world.”
With France next, Tandy ruled out wholesale changes but accepted the underlying issue must be addressed.
Tandy said: “We expect more of ourselves and that’s why today hurts.”
Join the discussion