Wales captain Dewi Lake has apologised to supporters after his side's 48-7 loss to England in the Six Nations. The defeat, in which Wales conceded seven tries and received four yellow cards, extends their poor run to 22 losses in their last 24 Tests.
Lake did not hold back in his assessment. 'We let ourselves down, we let people down,' he said. 'We spoke all week about what we were going to produce and we didn’t do it. There is no other way to say it – we’re massively disappointed with what we put on the field today.'
The hooker acknowledged the team's discipline issues: 'We put ourselves under pressure, the penalty count and the yellow cards are down to us. We will be better next week. This group will fight for each other all day, there is never a question of effort. But we weren’t accurate enough when we had opportunities.'
Wales head coach Steve Tandy echoed the disappointment. 'We are bitterly disappointed. We were inaccurate and couldn’t get any momentum. Playing England with 15 men is tough enough. Playing with 13 men for almost 20 minutes is hard.'
England head coach Steve Borthwick praised his side's defence and kicking game, while also lauding Henry Arundell's hat-trick. 'I thought defensively we were excellent, I thought our kicking game was excellent,' Borthwick said. 'What was pleasing is that we created lots of opportunities.'
