{"id":493127,"date":"2026-02-20T20:24:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T20:24:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/493127\/"},"modified":"2026-02-20T20:24:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T20:24:08","slug":"dewi-lake-calls-on-fans-to-back-under-fire-wales-while-italy-eye-another-shock-six-nations-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/493127\/","title":{"rendered":"Dewi Lake calls on fans to back under-fire Wales while Italy eye another shock | Six Nations 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Wales captain, Dewi Lake, has urged fans in Cardiff to lift his side for the Six Nations<\/a> meeting with Scotland on Saturday.<\/p>\n

After last week\u2019s record thrashing by France<\/a>, Wales have lost 13 consecutive Six Nations matches, while Scotland arrive at the Principality Stadium in upbeat mood after their handsome Calcutta Cup triumph<\/a> over England.<\/p>\n

Wales\u2019s most recent home victory in the tournament came against Scotland in 2022, and Lake wants the energy of home supporters to \u201cfeed\u201d his team.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou speak about people being a 16th man, especially in this stadium with the roof closed,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen it erupts I think it is the heartbeat of the nation. It\u2019s our job to get people rocking, to get people enjoying the game and putting smiles on faces. All we ask for in return is the support and noise, and people feeding us that energy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wales have conceded 102 points in two championship matches, scoring just 19, and are yet to muster a bonus point. Lake said defensive improvement has been a priority for Steve Tandy\u2019s side in training this week.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve played two of the top-four teams in the world in the first two rounds but that\u2019s not an excuse over the tries we\u2019ve conceded,\u201d said the hooker. \u201cWe know we need to be better. But our game is developing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve worked very hard defensively this week, getting off the line a bit more and getting a bit wider. We were getting a bit too tight around rucks. A lot of hard work has gone in.\u201d<\/p>\n

France face Italy in Lille on Sunday with Gonzalo Quesada\u2019s team having beaten Scotland<\/a> and run Ireland close<\/a> in their first two matches. Les Bleus head coach, Fabien Galthi\u00e9, has cranked up the power accordingly, restoring the towering locks Thibaud Flament and Emmanuel Meafou to his XV.<\/p>\n

France\u2019s Emmanuel Meafou is back in the XV for the Italy game. Photograph: Ben Brady\/INPHO\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n

The hosts\u2019 team at Stade Pierre-Mauroy will be otherwise unchanged after a captivating attacking display against Wales, with the captain, Antoine Dupont, at scrum-half, Matthieu Jalibert at fly-half and Thomas Ramos at full-back. \u00c9milien Gailleton and Fabien Brau-Boirie, both of Pau, continue in midfield with Th\u00e9o Attissogbe and Louis Bielle-Biarrey \u2013 who have both scored three tries in the 2026 championship, second only to England\u2019s Henry Arundell with four \u2013 on the wings.<\/p>\n

Six of Galthi\u00e9\u2019s forward pack play for Toulouse and he said: \u201cThe scrum is subtle, it\u2019s about feelings, connections \u2013 it\u2019s about precision. Italy have shown a collective strength and a collective ability in the scrum, and we expect a huge challenge there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ange Capuozzo returns at full-back for Italy in the only change to Quesada\u2019s starting XV. The fly-half Paolo Garbisi said the 13-13 draw in 2024<\/a>, when he struck the post with a penalty in the dying seconds in Lille, still haunts him.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is something I will unfortunately never forget \u2013 it will always be there in a corner of my head,\u201d Garbisi said. \u201cMore than anything it\u2019s regret for the boys. I wanted to repay them for all the effort they put in.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Wales captain, Dewi Lake, has urged fans in Cardiff to lift his side for the Six Nations…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":493128,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-493127","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493127","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=493127"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493127\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/493128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=493127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=493127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=493127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}