Runners-up spot for Wales in the Six Nations will represent failure, according to second row Luke Charteris.
Victory over Italy on Saturday in the final round of matches will leave Wales in second place, behind champions England who will claim a Grand Slam if they beat France in Paris.
That would mean an improvement for Wales on last season’s showing – and that of 2014 – when they finished third, but Charteris finds little to celebrate.
Asked if he felt second would constitute a successful campaign, Charteris responded: “No, because we were trying to win it, but if we come second it’s one better than last year.
“Every year we go into the championship trying to win and with the confidence that we can. We’ve come up short this year; we’ll go again next year.”
The Racing 92 forward came on as a replacement during the 25-21 defeat to England at Twickenham and admits the late comeback fell short as a consequence of the way Wales had been outplayed for the first hour.
“Last Saturday was a bad day at the office for us, there is no hiding away from that, we went out there with a goal to win the game and give us a chance to play Italy at home with a chance of winning the Championship.
“That didn’t happen and there are a lot of disappointed boys because of that.
“There were a couple of things that didn’t go right, it isn’t a case of panic, change everything, we were a couple of little things away from winning the game.
“Admittedly, we didn’t deserve to win the game, but we still put ourselves in a position where we could have.”
Wales will be expected to follow Ireland’s lead and inflict more misery on an Italian side already guaranteed the wooden spoon and playing their last game under the stewardship of head coach Jacques Brunel.
“I didn’t see the (Ireland-Italy) game, I was surprised at the score because in the first few games I have watched Italy they have been really good, very competitive,” added Charteris.
“They will obviously be very disappointed and come here highly motivated. I know how high their boys regard Jacques (Brunel) as a coach and they will certainly want to send him off with a better performance.
“At the end of the day it is an international game and there will be no lack of motivation from their side of things and I am sure coming off a defeat like that, as we are, both teams will want to go out there and right some wrongs.
“It is a Test match, it is at home in the Six Nations. Seriously, if you write Italy off then you will pay the price for it. The result (in Dublin) was very out of character for them and how they’ve been playing in this Six Nations.
“They are still looking for that game to turn over one of the favoured teams and they will be trying to do that against us.”
