Here is the thing about Warren Gatland’s fly-half gamble before the Six Nations: you can partly see why he did it. Wales in his view had to build up depth at fly-half before the World Cup (and beyond), and Gatland felt that Gareth Anscombe – 36 by the time we get to Australia in 2027 – was not the answer. Nor was Jarrod Evans, playing outside of Wales at Harlequins but still eligible and in good form.

With Scarlets fly-half Sam Costelow ruled out of the tournament due to a fractured collarbone, the risk of making the decision to omit Anscombe and Evans was enormous.

Instead, in Ben Thomas, Wales started a player at fly-half against France and Italy who had made only one appearance at No 10 this season before the Six Nations. It was the same experiment they tried with Thomas, 26, on their summer tour of Australia last year.

The other option at fly-half, and the only specialist No 10 in this Wales squad, was the uncapped Dan Edwards, 21, from the Ospreys. In overlooking Anscombe, who started twice last autumn against Fiji and Australia, Gatland stacked all of his chips on youth and an out-of-position player. And it backfired.

Now Gatland and his attack coach Rob Howley are gone, with Howley remaining with the WRU but not working with the national side for the rest of the Six Nations. And who has new interim head coach Matt Sherratt immediately called up? Anscombe and Evans.

There was a moment in Rome where Wales – whose attacking shape was anyone’s guess once their kicking game fell apart 10 minutes in – were shuffling the ball across their backline and Nick Tompkins sent a hospital pass the way of Thomas.

As the fly-half was thumped backwards in a tackle by Tommaso Menoncello, the camera picked up Thomas looking in Tompkins’s direction and saying something, presumably along the lines of “thanks very much”. It summed up the lack of cohesion in their backline and also the mess Wales were in as a whole.

Back in October, Gatland labelled Thomas “the best back in Wales” and added that in his normal position, inside centre, “he’s played exceptionally well”. And he certainly played better at 12 in the autumn over three starts, scoring against Australia, than in his makeshift role. So why move him?

Arguably, even more perplexing than the omission of Anscombe was leaving out Max Llewellyn, in such good form for Gloucester that he is the Gallagher Premiership’s second-top try-scorer so far, with seven.

Llewellyn is 6ft 5in and idolised Jamie Roberts growing up. Gatland cited Llewellyn’s lack of touches in the South Africa game when discussing why he had been “pretty unlucky” to miss out. Given Wales only had 62 carries in that entire Test, that explanation felt harsh.

The Wales side who played in a sopping Rome last Saturday lacked effective carriers over the gain-line, until the very good Aaron Wainwright arrived off the bench, making 16 carries in 23 minutes.

Wales no doubt hoped to get that kind of forward progress from 6ft 4in centre Eddie James, making his first start, but he was limited to six carries for eight metres. Llewellyn, who has previously discussed becoming more direct as a carrier over the years, can deliver on that front while also having enough pace to play on the wing with four starts out wide this season.

Bringing in Anscombe, Evans and Llewellyn, players Sherratt has all worked with previously at Cardiff, already makes Wales feel as though they have more control at a key position and more direction and form in midfield. Unfortunately, their next opponent is Ireland, but, based on the past two weeks, there is only one direction for this Wales side to go anyway.

Gatland was right, Wales will eventually need a longer-term solution than Anscombe. But after 14 straight defeats they also desperately need a win. Ultimately, the decision to leave out Anscombe, along with Evans and Llewellyn, proved to be disastrous.