Warren Gatland plans to make significant changes to the Wales team to face Italy, having seen his team recover from a wretched start to beat France in their Six Nations opener on Friday night.
But the shake-up will not be a reaction to a limp first-half display at the Stade de France, where they trailed 16-0 at the break, before an unprecedented tournament comeback saw them triumph 24-19.
Instead, Gatland wants to use the fixture against Italy to test his squad’s depth – just as he did last year – before the World Cup.
“We’ve brought a squad of 31 with us and the ideal scenario would be to involve the other players who weren’t involved today, whether they start or are on the bench,” said Gatland.
“I made 11 or 12 changes against Italy last year and I was accused of being disrespectful by our own media. So, thanks very much for that!
“But the whole thing for the last few years has been about creating depth in the squad. We’re trying to replicate what’s going to happen at the World Cup later this year.
“We’d like other players to get an opportunity next week. Some might start and some might be on the bench. And I’m really looking forward to hopefully some nice weather down in Nice.”
A game Wales had appeared likely to lose heavily instead become the biggest comeback in the tournament’s history, thanks to two tries from George North and another from Tomos Williams.
Gatland said afterwards that Wales are a team that have forgotten how to lose, but France certainly haven’t. Their second-half meltdown proved they have developed a severe allergy to the prospect of victory and it’s an affliction that was as essential to Wales’ victory as their own resourcefulness and determination.
France’s inspiration lasted 40 minutes, but Welsh self-belief ran the full 80.
Last season, it was Ireland who were handed victory late on. They went on to win the Grand Slam and Wales will believe they are now capable of doing the same, with Italy in Rome, England in Cardiff , Scotland in Edinburgh and the Irish at home to finish.
Wales’ 10th successive win equals their longest undefeated run since 1999 and was a seventh victory from the last eight starts against France.
“France were very good in the first half,” added Gatland. “We made too many errors and tried to play too much rugby.
“We were much better in the second half and created some chances. For me, the big difference between the two teams is that we’ve become a side that has probably forgotten how to lose and can dig deep like that.
“On the other hand, they are probably a team searching for some confidence, having not had a great run in the last seven or eight matches.
“We know we get better the more time we have together and we showed that in November.
“There were lots of things today from us getting out of that game and winning, we’ll improve.
“It’s tough in the Six Nations when you come up one of the big games. France in Paris is a big challenge first up.”
Wales captain Alun Wyn Jones admitted Wales had been forced to change their approach after such an unproductive first-half.
“We have to hold out hands up and say we came out pretty slow. Credit to George and our defence, they came through in the conditions. We learned pretty quickly that we were better off without the ball than with it,” said the skipper.
“There is a lot of value in chasing lost causes – one with the kick and one with the interception. The conditions probably won the game more than we did, but there is a lot to work on.
“It was a positive result. We came out a bit cold and tried to play a bit too much, but we learned pretty quickly at the start of the second half.”
France coach Jacques Brunel was left “disappointed” by his team’s lack of control.
“We were fully committed, did lots of interesting things, notably in the first half,” Brunel said.
“Even if we didn’t master everything, we managed to put Wales under pressure.
“We know they have a formidable defence, and unfortunately we didn’t start the second-half well, and they did.
“I don’t think it’s a mental state of mind, we showed until the end we had the fighting spirit. There was a lack of game management.”
