Wales cannot afford to agonise over heavy defeat in France, says Botham

Wales cannot afford to be bogged down by the margin, or manner, of last week's defeat by France as they prepare to take on Italy in the Six Nations in Rome on Saturday, flanker James Botham said on Tuesday.

Wales were beaten 43-0 by France in Paris last Friday in the opening game of this year's tournament, extending their losing streak to 13 matches that began at the 2023 World Cup.

That run of defeats includes a home loss to Italy in last year's Six Nations that condemned Wales to last place in the standings and has plunged Welsh rugby in the doldrums.

They already sit at their worst ever position at 11th in the World Rugby rankings, but defeat in Rome will likely mean they drop one place lower, behind Georgia, who are expected to beat the Netherlands this weekend.

"It's tough, obviously, getting a loss. We knew there was going to be a tough game for a lot of the boys. For some, it was their first time playing there. We knew it was going to be loud with the crowd and everything like that," Botham told a virtual press conference from the team's training camp in France.

"Any loss is going to hurt with people saying it's one of the biggest losses we had, with no points scored. But we've got to move on to the next thing now... you can't bog yourself down."

Italy have now won two of their last three clashes against Wales and despite losing to Scotland at Murrayfield on Saturday, will be confident of home success.

"Italy will be passionate about it and it'll be a good battle between the back rows. We need to get a win now and see if we can finish off in a better position than last year," Botham said.

"We've got to come out all guns blazing in the first 20 (minutes) and show what we can do. The performance and result is what we want," he added.