Can people fall back in love with Welsh rugby?

Wales have not beaten France since 2019

A Cardiff weekend combining Valentine's Day and a Wales Six Nations home match would previously have proved the perfect Welsh rugby love affair.

But there is a chill in the Welsh rugby air to match the freezing February temperature that greeted the French the day before Sunday's match.

It is the travelling France fans who have been bouncing around Cardiff with smiles on their faces this weekend, typified by the raucous travelling support at Saturday night's Under-20s win against the impressive Wales youngsters at the Arms Park.

People have been falling out of love with Welsh rugby for a while.

Can a shock Six Nations win over France on Sunday somehow rekindle the romance and reignite affection for Steve Tandy's side?

Highly unlikely, but you can dare to dream.

Will the fans stay away?

The pre-match build-up has been almost as much about how many people will not turn up this weekend, and whether there will be empty seats in the Principality Stadium, as about the game itself.

Tandy insists Wales is a "rugby nation" despite tens of thousands of tickets remaining unsold for Sunday's contest with France and further home games against Scotland and Italy.

Wales have historically put up 'sold out' signs for Test matches at their 74,500-seater Principality Stadium home, with rugby often referred to as the "national sport".

The lowest crowd for a Wales home Six Nations game against France was in 2022 when 63,208 attended a Friday night match.

Two years later the same fixture was held on a Sunday and attracted a crowd of 71,242. The smallest attendance in this tournament at the game's Welsh home was 58,349 against Italy in 2002.

The cost of a match-day experience in Cardiff has been suggested as the reason for some fans staying away.

Some argue crowds of 60,000 to see a struggling team in a small nation on a Sunday is still a healthy number.

Especially when you consider the Wales football team had attendances of about 3,000 when they were struggling a couple of decades ago.

There are others who claim empty seats and some tickets being given away is indicative of the current turmoil in Welsh rugby.

The struggling side

Wales have only won one international in Cardiff since the 2023 World Cup

People are witnessing the demise of Wales, a team that have enjoyed Six Nations success and Grand Slam victories over the past two decades.

The dedicated fans will try to stick by their beloved side through thick and thin but it has proved a turbulent time since the 2023 World Cup.

Wales have lost 22 of the past 24 internationals, which included an 18-match losing sequence, with the only two victories coming against Japan.

There have been 12 straight Six Nations defeats, a record now stretching back 1,072 days to when Wales beat Italy in Rome in March 2023.

And there are very few home comforts, with Wales having not won a match in Cardiff in the tournament for four years since defeating Scotland in February 2022. That was 1,464 days ago.

It has also been the manner of humbling home defeats in recent times, with heavy record losses to England (68-14), Argentina (52-28) and South Africa (73-0).

Even the loss to New Zealand in November, which has been held up as Wales showing some green shoots of recovery, was a 52-26 defeat.

Despite the results, captain Dewi Lake has extolled the Principality Stadium surroundings.

"It is our ground, the best stadium in the world and we are excited to be back home," said Lake.

"Our goal with our game on the pitch is to get the fans involved, to give them life and energy because that feeds back onto us."

Wales need to back up those rousing words with actions.

The coaching conundrum

Matt Sherratt and Danny Wilson are the only two permanent members in Steve Tandy's coaching set-up

It was always going to be a huge task for Tandy when he came into the role last year and his baptism has shown that.

Wales have lost four of his opening five matches in charge, conceding 248 points and 34 tries.

That is an average of 50 points and seven tries per game, with Tandy admitting he is looking to bring in a defence coach so he does not have to continue to do both roles.

Tandy has also been beset by ill-discipline from his players, who have picked up 10 yellow cards and one red card in those five games.

Under Tandy Wales have faced the top three sides in the world rankings in England, New Zealand and South Africa, with fourth-placed France to follow on Sunday.

While there is a lack of depth and quality, Wales do have top-tier players who compete in the English and French leagues.

There is a feeling that a squad that can field Tomos Williams, Dewi Lake, Dafydd Jenkins, Rhys Carre, Louis Rees-Zammit and Aaron Wainwright should be performing better, while Tandy has baffled many by continually leaving out Leicester flanker Tommy Reffell.

Recent defeats should not have been as seismic as they have been and must not be accepted as a new normal.

That is Tandy's conundrum, to maximise what he has at his disposal. He has not managed to do that so far in his short stint in charge and will hope to change that, starting against France.

Not many people will expect Wales to win a game in this tournament as the gap between them and the other five nations grows. They should, however, expect more competitive performances.

Welsh Rugby Union not winning popularity contests

WRU chief executive Abi Tierney and chair Richard Collier-Keywood

For many, it is not the coaches and the players who are the problem. It is the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU)'s fault.

The WRU are not the most popular organisation in Wales right now as they pursue their policy of cutting a professional men's side.

Welsh rugby's governing body insists there is not the money or player base to maintain the four regions and are sticking to their choice to drop to three teams, something first proposed in October.

The decision is deemed necessary by some, to arrest the alarming decline, but opposed vehemently by others.

This week one of the most prominent businesswomen in the country called for WRU chair Richard Collier-Keywood to resign, while the governing body has written to clubs outlining hate and abuse received by some WRU board members.

This has followed a toxic few weeks after the WRU revealed Ospreys owners, Y11 Sport and Media, were the preferred bidder to take over Cardiff who have been WRU owned since going into administration in April 2025.

This has riled Ospreys supporters who fear they will no longer have a professional team beyond 2026-27 if the Cardiff deal goes through.

They have held protests, created petitions and attended meetings. Swansea Council has initiated legal action.

The focus has been directed towards the WRU, although it must also be remembered it is Y11 preparing to buy another Welsh side that could see the end of the professional entity they already own.

Fans have taken to social media to urge others to boycott Wales games and not give any money to the WRU.

That could be counter-productive because more than 50% of the WRU's turnover - money that goes back into the game - comes from the men's home internationals.

But you sense the strength of feeling.

French flair

If Wales are not an attraction, there is a pretty special French team coming to Cardiff looking to defend their Six Nations title.

They are captained by superstar scrum-half Antoine Dupont who says the Principality Stadium is his favourite ground outside of France.

"We respect the Welsh team and we know in international rugby we cannot underrate any opponent," said Dupont.

"We have known the position Wales are in because in the past, maybe 10 years ago, it was a tough time for French rugby as well.

"They have some young players at the moment so they need time to have the experience necessary at this level to win games."

Classy words and there is plenty to love about the opposition this weekend in Cardiff.

Les Bleus defence coach Shaun Edwards was also a popular figure with Welsh fans during his 12 years in Warren Gatland's Wales coaching team.

Edwards reminds Wales of a more successful time. A time when Welsh rugby revelled in the present but failed to prepare for its future.

Whether Welsh rugby returns to some of those great days remains to be seen.

For now they remain huge underdogs for their latest Six Nations date - and should they somehow overcome the French favourites it would be one of the tournament's most romantic upsets of recent time.