Gatland goes fishing but Kidney doesn’t bite

Wales coach Warren Gatland has warned his players to expect a Six Nations backlash from Ireland when the Celtic nations renew rivalries following their World Cup quarter-final clash.

Declan Kidney’s side host the Welsh in their RBS 6 Nations opener at the Aviva Stadium on Sunday, February 5, their first meeting since Gatland’s team beat the Irish in Wellington last October to reach the World Cup semi-finals.

Yet despite distancing himself from his previous penchant for hurling verbal grenades in the direction of opposition teams and coaches ahead of big games, former Ireland coach Gatland suggested Wales had not got the credit their performance deserved in defeating the Irish 22-10. “I think they probably weren’t allowed to play that day,” Gatland said at the RBS 6 Nations launch in London yesterday.

“I think the way we prepared in that quarter-final, tactically, we did our homework. We tried to stop the Irish kicking game and our loose forwards were absolutely outstanding.

“We knew how key [Sean] O’Brien was to the Irish team — he made 23 carries for 24 metres, while normally that would be worth 200m. We knew the key Irish players we needed to stop and we just got everything right on the day and we were incredibly motivated. Having said that, Ireland could have scored a couple of other tries while we too our chances and started well and it was an outstanding performance from Wales on the day.”

Gatland continued to rub in the quarter-final defeat when asked what he was expecting in Dublin on Sunday week.

“I’m expecting a backlash from Ireland because when they lose, it’s almost backs to the wall, like a payback-revenge situation with Irish teams. So I’m expecting that from them on the back of the three provinces doing extremely well.

“It’s important you don’t give them any additional motivation to go and perform and there’s no bigger indication of that than when England went last year to win the Grand Slam and got completely outplayed by them in a fantastic Irish performance on the day.

“So we don’t want to give them too much motivation. They will be disappointed and thinking back to the World Cup and wanting to rectify that result and the criticism that not just the players but the coaches received after that.”

Attending the same event, current Ireland head coach downplayed Gatland’s talk of a backlash and dismissed his analysis of Sean O’Brien’s ball-carrying.

“We’re very aware of what happened,” Kidney said of the World Cup defeat. “All these statistical nuances can be thrown out if you want. “I’m sure they’ll look to do that. We’ll just prepare in our own way.

“I wouldn’t comment on any other coach’s comments. I’m sure we’d have a bit of craic ourselves but I’m not sure what Warren means by that.”

As for an Irish backlash, Kidney added: “We’ll just try and play as well as we can. I am sure we will be expecting a more emphatic performance from Wales.

“I wouldn’t be going tit for tat or anything like that. It’s the start of a new competition. You have to hold your hands up. They played better than we did, you’ve just got to move on to the next one.

“It’s just like championship hurling or football back home. You just move on to next year’s championship.”