Kieran Hardy: Wales will roll sleeves up before ‘real test’ against Italy

Kieran Hardy says that Wales “know how good we can be” after pushing Guinness Six Nations title favourites and Grand Slam contenders France to the limit.

Les Bleus will complete a clean sweep and secure Six Nations silverware for the first time since 2010 if they beat England in Paris next Saturday.

But a huge sense of relief permeated the French camp after they emerged unscathed from an absorbing Principality Stadium encounter that saw them prevail 13-9.

While France march on, it was Wales’ third defeat in this season’s tournament and the first time for 13 years that they failed to score a Six Nations try at home.

But captain Dan Biggar’s three penalties kept them in the fight and, had centre Jonathan Davies collected a scoring pass during the second half, Wales could easily have turned the tables on France, 12 months after Les Bleus destroyed their Grand Slam dream.

“We will dust ourselves off, come in on Monday and roll our sleeves up,” said scrum-half Hardy, who was an early replacement for Tomos Williams after he suffered a head injury.

“We know how good we can be, and I think next week (at home against Italy) is a real test for us to show our attacking strengths, try and score four tries and finish with a dominant performance.

“There is frustration, knowing that we probably did enough to win the game without actually winning it. We probably left a few chances out there.”

Hardy proved a key figure in keeping France captain and world player of the year Antoine Dupont relatively quiet during a heavyweight toe-to-toe contest.

“He is a world-class player, and we all knew the threat he posed,” Hardy added.

“It was just about taking his time away and trying to close him down as much as we could.

“Any turnover ball, it was