Warren Gatland rues costly moment in loss to Ireland
Wales boss Warren Gatland backed Ireland to clinch back-to-back Grand Slam titles after his side suffered a 31-7 Guinness Six Nations defeat in Dublin.
Tries from Dan Sheehan, James Lowe, Ciaran Frawley and Tadhg Beirne kept Andy Farrell’s reigning champions on course to become the first team to achieve the feat in the Six Nations era.
Ireland travel to Twickenham to take on England on March 9 before hosting Scotland on the final weekend of the tournament.
Gatland, who led Wales to three Grand Slams during his first spell in charge, believes Ireland’s ominous march towards another clean sweep will be difficult to stop.
“I think they’re definitely capable of doing it,” he said. “They’ve got the experience and the composure and players who can carry and get them on the front foot.
“I think they will be a hard team to knock over.”
Wales finished the opening period scoreless for the third match on the bounce at 17-0 down.
An improved second-half showing, which brought the consolation of a penalty try followed by a yellow card for Ireland lock Beirne, sparked brief hope of a fightback before the visitors slipped to a third successive loss following narrow defeats to Scotland and England.
Gatland felt his inexperienced team showed “huge heart and character” at the Aviva Stadium and thought the margin of victory flattered the hosts.
“The scoreline at the end probably didn’t reflect the effort we put in,” he said.
“At 17-7, attacking their 22, we didn’t come away with anything.
“We just didn’t get a foothold in the game in the first half. I thought there were a couple of tough calls against us so it was difficult to get momentum.
“I can’t question the effort of the players and how hard they worked.
“We showed some huge heart and character today.
“The scoreline’s probably not right. But it does reflect the difference between the two sides at the moment, where we are and where they are in terms of experience.”
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They also use a far more consistent scale.
Rugby pass seem to have a different scale for each player based on the authors expectations or how much he likes them.
Can't fathom how Moodie and Reece both were a 3.
Go to commentsYes for sure, thanks for sharing. I fully understand that both parties are better off, no one needs to lose, neither competition suffers, in fact both can be better as a result.
Too many true rugby fans (and analysts) don't understand that.
I wouldn't imagine there is a date aye. It was a long decline rugby in SA and Australia was going through, and was so bad it even effected NZ, caused them to argue to can a couple of teams. The nation of SA probably grew into it? I know I watch more of the NH now specifically because of the SR teams playing there. I actually had to mention to Nick Bishop (because of his stubborn perspective) the other day that I've never been a fan of Super Rugby, I don't think they chose the right way to go about professionalism back in 1995. Unfortunately, NZR was stuck between a rock and a hard place, because it had SA's and Australians that ran their unions by States, so we had to separate into "two or three" teams as a result. Our game is in the kak now because of it, they want to kill off the lifeblood of our National Provincial Championship. But now we might see a way out of it, so it's all good.
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