Gatland urges chastened charges to show Irish courage for next battle

Warren Gatland has called on his Welsh players to show some Irish-style courage for the remainder of the RBS Six Nations Championship.

The Wales coach believes it is still possible to secure a third title in-a-row despite the shock of losing so heavily at the Aviva on Saturday.

“It’s not all lost, but of course this result won’t make it easy and we put our hands up because we were well beaten. But we’ve still a lot to play for; we lost to Ireland last year and won the title, so we’ve got to believe.”

But Gatland knows it will take a significant effort to recover from the physical and psychological battering suffered in Dublin. “The first step is to improve on what we’ve done here. We won’t be thinking in terms of retaining the title (as such), we’ll be thinking about improving for our next game against France.

“Amongst the things that disappointed us was discipline, we gave away 17 penalties when we have always had a target of less than 10, we gave them opportunity by kicking to touch and allowing to get their lineout and drive going. We have to take responsibility as players and coaches and (to progress) we have to show some character.

“We were well beaten by a better team, no excuses, it was a very disappointing performance — one of the most disappointing performances I’ve been involved in since I’ve been Wales coach — but I take my hat off to Ireland, they had us up front and that was the difference between the two sides. Ireland were very effective, they played in close and (sometimes) kicked the leather off it, but it’s been effective, they dominated us up front and we have to take it on the chin, they were outstanding. We weren’t at the races and we’ll have to take a long, hard look at ourselves.

“We wanted to get our wingers involved and lots of touches, we weren’t able to hold onto the ball for long phases, Ireland made it so difficult for us.”

Gatland was particularly disappointed at how easily Ireland dominated at the contact area, and especially at the breakdown with Ireland’s Peter O’Mahony the dominant individual.

“The contact area is something we do work hard at, and we weren’t as sharp as we normally are, they hit us hard at the breakdown, and made it very difficult.

“(O’Mahony’s) been good on the last couple of times I’ve seen him play, he’s excellent on the ball and you can never underestimate the passion that any Munster player brings to a side. He definitely demonstrates that (passion) when he sings the national anthem and he wears his heart on his sleeve.”

Gatland also was pleased the controversy he created by dropping Brian O’Driscoll from last year’s Lions Test side is a thing of the past, and he said he had encountered no public hostility during his three day stay in Ireland.

“I said before coming here, one of the things about Irish crowds is they’re one of the most respectful in the world, I’ve been overwhelmed by the reception shown to myself and my team here in Ireland, everywhere I’ve gone people I’ve seen have said for me just to enjoy the match. It hasn’t been the public trying to drum up controversy.”