Wales v France

This is going to sound odd, but Wales in defeat this week were far more impressive than winning two weeks ago.

Why? Because unlocking France's defence with a full 15 men on the pitch twice and nearly unlocking twice them more - but for a dropped pass by Charteris and a pass too late by Roberts is a good result against the team that are clearly the best in the Northern Hemisphere at the moment. Head and shoulders the best you'd have to say and that win against SA in November is looking ominous. Ireland, and remember this is an Ireland we thought would be going for back-to-back Grand Slams, only managed one try and struggled to get that and never looked like getting more.

Wales have an uncomfortably large number of areas where they need to improve - the whole first half, the scrum, line out, passing, offloading, decision making to start the list off, but it isn't all bad - despite the errors they played their part with pride and made for a compelling game. Wales can hold their heads high despite losing.

And, despite the two tries that France scored you would have to say that Wales weren't broken in defence so much as error prone in attack given they were both interceptions. OK, that's harsh on Shane Williams who offloaded reasonably and his team mates didn't react as quickly as Tranh-Duc did, but Hook's intercepted pass was a shocker.

Add to that a wild and exhilarating game with a close finish again and it made for an exciting Friday night.

Can Gatland and Williams get it together for next year - 6 Nations and World Cup? I don't know. But Wales are still breaking in Roberts and Hook as a partnership, and Hook in a 13 jersey. Rees was a lot better than Cooper in the 9 jersey... when Phillips is fully fit as well that could be an exciting clash for the starting berth. Two missing locks, a missing prop and hooker - it's not all doom and gloom for Wales for either despite 2 loses so far.