"No complaints about it" – Wales coach Matt Sherratt backs decision to disallow Faletau's try against Scotland

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Wales fell to their 16th consecutive 35-29 defeat at Murrayfield, but the game was all over at the end of the opening 40 minutes.

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During the first half in the Scottish capital, that feel good factor that was reinvented back into Welsh Rugby after that performance against Ireland felt like a distant memory as at the break Wales were 28-8 down.

After a spirited second half comeback with tries from Ben Thomas, Teddy Williams, and Max Llewellyn proved not to be enough as this result means that Wales joined Italy as the only Tier one Nation team to have lost 16 consecutive Test matches in the professional era

"It was a tale of the first 20 minutes and the last 20 minutes, wasn't it," insisted interim head coach Sherratt. Ultimately the first 20 minutes was always going to dictate where the game went. 

"It was a real brave effort in the end to come back and get two points but I've seen enough of those games where the reality is they probably thought they'd done enough and dropped off 5%.

"What I did feel though is there was a hell of a lot of effort from our boys in that last 20 minutes. It was nice to get that four-try bonus point but what was more pleasing for me was seeing the desperation of them defending our line."

However, Harlequins' Jarrod Evans when he entered the field of play, certainly lit the field up and was a great asset in attack. Again it's not about overthinking it," Sherratt said. "The game had run its course so when the bench came on it was pretty clear what we had to do. 

"The most pleasing thing was you could sense just before half-time if we started chasing the game and getting unstructured we'd hurt ourselves. So, I thought there was an element of maturity in the second half where we weren't reckless. 

"We weren't just running everything and going out of system. We managed to feel a little bit better and all the tries came from structured play.  It gave us something to build on and some green shoots going into the England game."

Wales had a late Taulupe Faletau try ruled out after winger, Blair Murray was penalised for illegally hurdling a tackle in the build up.

On this head coach, Sherratt said: "I thought it was probably rightly chalked off if I'm honest. When I look back at it it looked like he (Blair Murray) jumped into the tackle, so I've got no complaints about it. 

"I haven't had a great look at it but no initial complaints from me on that."

Up next for Wales in what will be Sherratt's last game as Wales head coach, is England at Principality after they take on Italy. 

"I can't wait," added Sherratt. "Straight away after the game, the players said in the huddle that it's not a week to lick your wounds for too long.

"There's no greater challenge than England in Cardiff. I know it's something the boys can't wait for and personally for me, it should be a great occasion," concluded the Gloucester born head coach. 

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QUIZ: Can You Name the England XV that Won the 2020 Six Nations?

England last won the Six Nations in 2020, in what was a crowning achievement during the Eddie Jones era. Coming off the back of the 2019 Rugby World Cup Final heartbreak, England bounced back to win their seventh Six Nations title since the competition’s Italian expansion in 2000.

England secured the trophy with a win in Rome, as they handed Italy a one-sided 34-5 bonus point defeat. We are challenging you to remember who started for England that day, as the match was played in front of an empty stadium during the Covid-19 Pandemic.

You have five minutes to provide your answers, good luck!

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