Warren Gatland warns Wales could get 'wooden spoon' after Six Nations defeat to England in Cardiff

Warren Gatland said part of the focus is preparing for the World Cup later this year Credit: PA

Coach Warren Gatland has warned the "last thing" his team wants to do is "get a wooden spoon."

It follows their third consecutive Six Nations defeat yesterday, this time against England at the Principality Stadium.

The 20-10 defeat means Wales are currently bottom of the table with just two games to play and no points on the board so far.

Despite a difficult few weeks on and off the field, with threatened strike action by the players over contentious contract negotiations averted, Wales briefly led thanks to a Louis Rees-Zammit try almost immediately after half time.

Defeat could not be avoided though.

  • Gatland said there are positives signs but there is still a lot of work to do

Speaking after the match, Gatland said: "I think we can be critical of ourselves in terms of, we created a lot of problems for ourselves by not being accurate in key and critical moments. That's what Test match rugby is all about. You're in that arm wrestle and to stay in that fight is about being accurate."

But he added there were positives to take from the match, saying: "We've spoken about us being hard on ourselves and areas we need to improve on. I was pleased that there were a number of improvements in that performance, but obviously there's still a lot of work for us to do."

Despite signs of improvement, Wales are still staring down the barrel of their first Six Nations whitewash since 2003.

In his post-match press conference, Gatland said avoiding that scenario "has got to be our focus."

But he added the current tournament is important preparation for the World Cup, which will be held in France later this year.

He said: "A part of this Six Nations is about us thinking about the next six our seven months as well. And like I said we've got some older, experienced players who are still holding their hand up and we've got some talented youngsters who need some time, and we just haven't got, probably, that group in the middle."

"A lot of those players have had thirty or forty caps so we've got to try and marry the two together and start thinking about that going forward, and also giving some of those youngsters some more time."

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