After equalling their best display at a Rugby World Cup, how are Wales reflecting on their performances in France? A low confidence side before the tournament were allowed to dream again.
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00:00 A nation full of pride for a sport that flows throughout Welsh history. Rugby is the stalemate
00:08 for all Welsh men and women and the national team helped them believe at this year's World
00:13 Cup.
00:14 James, let's just look back at the Rugby World Cup and now taking back to the start, obviously
00:19 your thoughts going into the tournament. We've spoken and you know you've said that Wales
00:23 were a team and a nation in transition. What were your thoughts going into the tournament?
00:29 There wasn't confidence around Wales. We weren't expecting to go far. We looked at our group.
00:36 We weren't sure. It wasn't like we thought we weren't confident or were confident. Fiji
00:40 looked good. Fiji were on form going in. Australia weren't the Australia side we've played and
00:45 got beaten by a lot in the past. So straight away in the first game we started to grow
00:50 a bit of confidence which we didn't have before it. We didn't think that we were going to
00:54 be able to do it but we thought Warren Gatland's back. The king of Welsh rugby has been for
01:00 the last decade or so. He'd left obviously for a few years and having him back and winning
01:06 games in the early stages of the group stage, we may have got a bit of false confidence
01:11 so we didn't really, shouldn't have had going in maybe.
01:14 And then obviously the group's end. 100% record and the first team to qualify from the group.
01:21 You must have been thinking, hang on, we are suddenly becoming this team that are fighting
01:27 and are winning games. It must have been a huge contrast of emotions from before the
01:32 tournament started.
01:33 Yes, we'd won all these games. We had a close game against Fiji which was still a great
01:38 performance how it went. Beating a weak Australian side and then Portugal and Georgia should
01:45 be winning. But we looked pretty good going into them. We thought that there was, we kind
01:50 of forgot about the fact that the last two years of Welsh rugby have been incredibly
01:54 challenging on and off the pitch. So there's been a lot for the Welsh Rugby Union.
01:59 Thoughts before the tournament set the bar low for the Welsh team that's been deemed
02:03 in transition. But some beating in the group and equaling their best run in the tournament
02:08 restored some faith in the national side. Upon reflection, how is it viewed by Welsh
02:14 fans who deep down know they should have had a crack at a semi-final?
02:19 We weren't supposed to be making it to the semis and then, you know, make it to the semis,
02:24 play against New Zealand. We weren't going to beat New Zealand anyway. So it's not like
02:28 it's... It was a missed opportunity to kind of get through this a little bit and think,
02:35 oh yeah, like we should have been beating Argentina. We should have, regardless of form,
02:39 Wales should be beating Argentina in the rugby. That's something that anyone in the Welsh
02:43 Rugby Union, anyone around Wales in Welsh rugby would definitely say.
02:49 Despite being knocked out in their minds prematurely, Welsh fans can stand tall with pride and give
02:55 a real good go at the Six Nations, knowing they may just go under the radar and again
03:02 dare to dream.
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