Wales head coach Warren Gatland was highly critical of his side's display in the 28-9 defeat to France in Paris.
Wales coach slams team's attitude during loss to France
Wales head coach Warren Gatland was highly critical of his side's display in the 28-9 loss to France in Paris.
Gatland's men began the match knowing a 27-point victory would be enough to deny England, who had missed out on the grand slam with defeat to Ireland earlier in the day, the RBS Six Nations crown.
But it was never on the cards, France scoring three tries through Lionel Nallet (two) and Vincent Clerc to ensure their title defence ended in a second-place finish behind England.
Wales, who end up fourth in the final table, mustered only three penalties from James Hook, who was sin-binned for a dangerous tackle shortly before Clerc's try finished off the visitors mid-way through the second half.
"France did not have to work for the points that they got," Gatland said. "It was a very disappointing performance.
"The biggest disappointment is we didn't turn up in the right mental frame of mind tonight. Tonight is a backwards step."
On Hook's yellow card, Gatland added: "A yellow card is a bit tough. It was a little bit soft, it's fairly innocuous really."
Dominated
Wales captain Matthew Rees conceded they had been comprehensively outplayed by France, who bounced back in style from last week's loss to Italy in Rome.
"It's very disappointing," Rees said. "We knew it was going to be a tough ask after the defeat France had against Italy. They dominated us up front and we came away second best.
"There were a lot of errors at the ruck areas. We gave them a lot of ball there.
"We lost the game in the first half as far as I'm concerned.
"We're disappointed to lose out tonight, but we have had three good wins. But we've only got ourselves to blame tonight. We got to make sure we learn from this."
Response
France head coach Marc Lievremont, meanwhile, applauded his side's "manly" response to their Italy loss as they swapped places with Wales to finish Six Nations runners-up behind England.
Lievremont had accused his players of "cowardice" last weekend and took the axe to his side, dropping six members of his squad.
"What is important here was the reaction of the players," he said. "It was a manly reaction.
"It's not about what was said outside the group but what was said within the group and this what went right on the field today."
Lievremont, who was under huge pressure to mastermind a win, added: "I feel happy. I also feel a bit of relief.
"I'm really impatient to leave this room to go and enjoy a beer."
