Scrum failing cost us the game, declares Jones

ADAM JONES knows more than most how important it is to have a dominant scrum in the modern era and had backed Wales to make that strength count in Saturday’s Six Nations clash at Croke Park.

So confident were Wales in their ability to do damage in this sector that they went for broke in a key spell early in the second half as they trailed by 10 points and seemingly had Ireland on the ropes.

It proved their downfall.

“We were sure we could drive them back and score or, at the least, force them into collapsing and conceding a penalty try,” mused Jones in the aftermath of another disappointing result for Warren Gatland’s team.

The attacking scrum was set three times but disaster struck when they failed to strike properly for the ball, and Ireland got the push on and cleared their lines. It was the game’s turning point, according to Jones.

He said: “It was disastrous from our point of view, we got our timing wrong and before we knew it, the ball was up the pitch. We needed to score then; we had to score then. It was probably the defining moment.

“We just didn’t strike for the ball well and when that happens you’re left trying to pick up the pieces, Ireland got the shove on and the pressure came through from the tight head side to give them momentum.”

Wales paid a huge price for their bad timing, with Jones highlighting the fact that Ireland not only turned possession over but then quickly added a score at the other end to end the contest. “It was a heavy price we paid,” he said.

Welsh coach Warren Gatland hasn’t endeared himself to Irish players or fans these last couple of seasons, but he was in no mood for further controversy as he paid tribute to Ireland.

“They took their chances, they were very clinical; we probably had more territory and possession but we paid a huge price for turnovers, not least the loss of possession from that scrum.

“We’re disappointed, but you can’t take anything away from Ireland,” he said.

Gatland admitted his side hasn’t learned from tough lessons in this season’s championship, not least the fact they continue to irk referees and they paid the price when Lee Byrne was sin-binned at a crucial stage.

“That was costly,” admitted Gatland, “We conceded 10 points when he was off the pitch and 10 points in international rugby at an away venue is a lot of points. It left us with a huge task to try to get back into the match.

“We also don’t seem to have learned much about the art of patience. Sometimes we pushed things too quickly and against such a well organised and tough defence, we were only running into trouble.

“That’s a hugely experienced Irish team; just look at the midfield which has been playing together for maybe a decade. Our guys (centres) are work in progress by comparison so it’s easy to be critical of what we didn’t do.”

Yet, Wales will worry that they have now leaked 10 tries in four games and defence coach Shaun Edwards didn’t try to hide his disappointment.

“It’s a problem and it is something we have to work on. If there is an excuse it is that we hadn’t conceded a try up to the point that Lee (Byrne) was sent to the sin-bin, so we appeared to be doing fine with 15 players. I would be more disappointed than anything with conceding the third try; that should have been stopped, but I was pleased that the defence tightened up in the last quarter,” he said.

Gatland and his team were yesterday preparing themselves for the avalanche of criticism back home after slipping into fifth position in the table.

Yet, Gatland believes there is still no need to panic when he pointed out that Wales were missing up to four key players at Croke Park. “Maybe we’re lacking a bit of strength in depth, but from all of this some good can come because it has given us an opportunity to field some up-and-coming players.”

The Welsh second row Bradley Davies, a former U19 skipper, is only 23 and Gatland stakes his reputation on the Cardiff player ultimately becoming a fixture on the national team, along with scrum half Richard Rees, whom he described as “hugely promising.”

Overall though, there was no real option for Gatland other than to sit back and admire Ireland for a job well done. To his credit, he did that.