Wales captain Dewi Lake says that he can “feel” a win coming, as his side were once again on the end of a tight defeat in Dublin on Friday night.

While Wales’ winless run has now reached 15 games in the Six Nations, their dogged defensive display seemed to win fans over during a 27-17 defeat.

Ireland head coach Andy Farrell said Wales were “tremendous and Ireland had been involved in a proper, dogged Test match”.

This performance follows the narrow 26-23 home loss to Scotland two weeks ago, with Wales facing Italy on the final weekend in Cardiff on Saturday.

“The win is coming, I can feel it, it is just around the corner,” said Lake.

“The development of the team in the past four weeks has been monumental.

“We’re always disappointed to lose, but the positives and the way we played is always something to be proud of.”

Lake says Wales will be left to rue some missed opportunities against Ireland.

“In the end, we couldn’t cross the line,” added Lake.

“We had the opportunities in the first half, maybe we didn’t take them as much in the second half.

“I know I talk about the negatives, but we need to learn from them and going into next week, we need to work on taking those chances.”

Wales made a frankly remarkable 240 tackles against Ireland, with flankers Alex Mann and James Botham making 32 and 26 respectively, while locks Dafydd Jenkins and Ben Carter both all made more than 20 each.

Lake, despite only playing 56 minutes, made 23 tackles and was Wales’ top carrier with 14.

“The physicality they left out in the field was outstanding,” said Tandy. “Dan [Lydiate] has done a great job around the contact area.

“When we came in in the autumn, there were lots of new systems coming in, lots of different language and the way they’ve adapted and developed has been great.

“The mindset of the group has been excellent, but as much as you’ll see a lot of toughness, there was a lot of skill around the defence as well.”

Despite Wales’ defeat, the standout moment of the night was Rhys Carre’s solo try.

The loosehead prop showed a remarkable turn of pace to beat back three player Rob Baloucoune and Jamie Osborne and score from 35 metres out.

Having not been a part of a Wales squad for almost three year, Tandy deserves great credit for reintegrating Carre into the international fold and getting the best out of him.

The Saracens prop – who signed an improved deal with his club last week – has now scored three tries in three games.

“He’s been a massive credit and all the plaudits should go to Rhys,” said Tandy.

“The way he has come back into the environment and the way he trains as well has been impressive. You see the output Rhys has in scoring tries, but there is also the effort he puts in in training.

“I think there’s a bigger ceiling in Rhys. He is playing well at the minute, but I believe there’s much more to come, which is exciting.”

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