Wales’ imperfect 10 as Six Nations misery is complete

Played 10, lost 10. That is the miserable performance of Wales’ two national teams at the 2025 Six Nations in 86 challenging days.

It has been a miserable and turbulent three months, from the 43-0 Friday night Paris mauling France’s men’s side of Wales in January to the 44-12 hammering by Italy’s women in late April.

If Welsh rugby’s new performance director Dave Reddin had needed a reminder of the enormous task he is tasked with, he would have simply had to observe what is happening in Parma on Sunday.

The first women’s team to lose all five of their Six Nations matches was Sean Lynn’s team.

Wales won the Six Nations title in 2024 and 2025, and the men have a record of doing so in recent years.

In the 20 matches that have been played in the four competitions over the past 16 months, only one victory has been won: Wales women’s sneaky victory over Italy at Principality Stadium in April 2024, a success that was greeted as if the hosts had won the World Cup.

In his opening press conference last week, Reddin used expressions like “low ebb” to describe Welsh rugby. He did not violate the law.

With at least 11 more games on the 2025 schedule, the former FA and Team GB performance expert now has the unenviable task of changing Wales’ ailing national sides.

Warren Gatland, who left after the Six Nations defeat to Italy in Rome in February, will be replaced by Reddin, who will be in charge of finding a permanent men’s head coach from Rome until September.

Matt Sherratt, the new coach for Cardiff, oversaw three more defeats.

If the new coach isn’t in place in time, Sherratt might be asked to take Wales to Japan in July.

The successful candidate will begin with the lowest possible starting position.

With 17 successive international defeats, the most by a tier-one nation in the history of professional football, this Wales team has become the unwanted history boys, matching Scotland’s losing streak between 1951 and 1955.

Their most recent test victory came in the World Cup in Nantes in October 2023 when they defeated Georgia.

The most recent setback was a record-breaking defeat by England in Cardiff in March, 68-14.

With 11 consecutive Six Nations losses to their name, Wales became the first to lose every game in two different competitions. As a result, they won the Wooden Spoon.

Wales are 12th in the world rankings, just one place ahead of Eddie Jones’ Japan team, who they face this summer.

2025 Six Nations

Friday, January 31; France 4-0 Wales; Paris

Italy 22-15, Wales, Rome, Saturday, February 8th.

Wales 18-27 Ireland, Cardiff, Saturday, February 22.

Scotland 35-29 Wales, Edinburgh, Saturday, March 8, 2018.

Saturday, 15 March, Wales 14-68 England, Cardiff

The last items are fixtures.

Saturday, July 5, 2018, Kitakyushu (TBC) vs. Japan and Wales

Japan v. Wales, Kobe (TBC) on Saturday, 12 July.

Wales vs. Argentina matchup on November 9 at Cardiff (15:10 GMT).

Saturday, 15 November, Wales v Japan, Cardiff (17: 40 GMT)

Wales vs. New Zealand match on Saturday, November 22 at Cardiff (10:10 GMT).

Wales entered the 2025 tournament optimistically given that the WRU had chosen Sean Lynn as their new women’s head coach despite the wooden spoon from the previous year.

In three seasons with Gloucester-Hartpury that won the league, this man only lost six games.

Even his “family” culture and his winning mindset were unable to save Wales from its deepest despair.

Lynn watched his team being outclassed and outmuscled in their final four matches despite a promising start with a respectable defeat against Scotland.

The scale of the scores against Ireland and Italy, two rival nations that Wales had previously defeated, was most alarming.

Lynn made it abundantly clear that things must change, including some of the players, who he claimed were insufficiently skilled to compete internationally.

For the summer’s two-test tour of Australia in July and, more importantly, the World Cup, he has a few weeks to change the starting lineup.

Wales will face Scotland, Canada, and Fiji in the group stage, with the goal of reaching the quarter-finals, during the two-day international competition that will take place in England in August and September.

Given how unemployed Wales have been for the past two months, that may not be enough time.

Six Nations 2025

Scotland 24-21 Wales, Saturday, 22 March, Edinburgh

Saturday, 29 March, Wales 12-67 England, Cardiff

Saturday, 12 April, France 42-12 Wales, Brive

Sunday, 20 April, Wales 14-40 Ireland, Newport

Sunday, 27 April, Italy 44-12 Wales, Parma

The last items are fixtures.

Australia v. Wales, SE Queensland (TBC) on Saturday, July 26.

Australia v. Wales, Sydney (TBC) on Friday, August 1 (TBC).

Wales v. Scotland, Salford on August 23 (14:45 BST).

Saturday, 30 August, Wales v Canada, Salford (12: 00 BST)