George North believes the enormity of Wales’ comeback against France hints at their capability for the rest of the Six Nations.
The Ospreys wing scored two tries in Paris as Wales recovered from 16-0 down to win 24-19 – the biggest turnaround of any match in the tournament’s history.
North insisted: “The team effort in the second half showed where we can go.
“We were a few yards off the pace today from where we know we can be. It showed how much we can dig in to get a result, but we know we are nowhere near where we need to be.
“It was a mixed day. In those conditions anything can happen. We spoke all week about chasing anything down.
“We didn’t have much luck with the bounce of the ball in the first half and we got away from our game plan. We allowed them into the game.
“The half time messages were clear. We knew what we needed to do and that showed in the second half. It was all hands to the deck, re-focus, re-jig and get back to where we know we can be.
“The boys knew straight away what we were doing was wrong. We had to put things right from minute one and we did that and came out strong.”
Alun Wyn Jones’ side have now equalled the professional era record of 10 wins in a row that began in Paris in 1999 when Rob Howley was captaining the side.
If they can win in Italy next week they will go level with Billy Trew’s great team from the first Golden Era with 11 wins in a row.
That would give them a shot at taking the record out on their own with a potential 12th successive triumph when they face England at home on 23 February.
11 Matches 9 Mar 1907 v Ireland to 1 Jan 1910 v France
W 29-0 Ir, Eng 18-28 W, W 6-5 Sc, W 36-4 Fr, Ir 5-11 W 9-6 Aus, W 8-0 Eng, Sc 3-5 W, Fr 5-47 W, W18-5 Ir, W 49-14 Fr
10 Matches 6 Mar 1999 v France to 9 Oct 1999 v Japan
Fr 33-34 W, It 21-60 W, W 32-31 Eng, Arg 26-36 W, Arg 16-23 W, W 33-19 Can, W 34-23 Fr, W 23-18 Arg, W 64-15 Jap
10 Matches 11 Mar 2018 v Italy to 01 Feb 2019 v France
W 38-14 It, W 14-13, SA 20-22 W, Arg 10-23 W, Arg 12-30, W 21-10 Sc, W 9-6 Aus, W 74-24 Ton W20-11 SA, F 19-24 W
Gatland said: “As a team we have forgotten how to lose and they are a team at the other end of the spectrum and it put them under pressure.
“We will take it and it is nice to get out of gaol in the first one from 16-0 down and win the game.
“The conditions were terrible and it wasn’t great. The message at half time was to raise the tempo. We felt that if we could get through four or five phases holding onto the ball we would create opportunities and chances.
“I thought our game management was poor today. We were excellent in the autumn and we got ourselves into good situations to control games. We didn’t manage this game as well as we could, but we found a way to win.
“It is a big start for us. We get an eight day turn around with Italy next week. Let’s hope we have a good week of preparation down in Nice before we fly out to Rome. Momentum really does help as you go along.”
