Joe Schmidt: We’re hurting now but Ireland has it all to play for

Joe Schmidt’s Monday morning review sessions may have assumed a status of their own, but there was little inclination among Ireland’s players to kickstart the process and trawl through the minutiae of defeat as they departed the Millennium Stadium on Saturday.

Too raw, perhaps.

A record 11th straight win had just slipped through their fingers. So, too, a Grand Slam and, not that anyone mentioned it in the post-mortem, but a Triple Crown to boot. A costly defeat, then, no doubt about it.

Body language doesn’t translate very well onto a page, which is a pity, given Peter O’Mahony’s demeanour as he faced 20 questions — quite literally — which would have been just half that had the replies been less clipped and more illuminating.

“Aw...like lads, Wales are a good side,” he said to question number 18. “Look, when they come out and play that well, they’re a very hard team to live with. We certainly made a lot of mistakes, but it’s going to be put to bed soon now. We’ve got to get on with it.”

That’s not a bad idea.

With Scotland awaiting this Saturday, time will be precious this week though O’Mahony was quizzed on pretty much every aspect of this defeat, not least the team’s inability to capitalise on the copious amounts of time spent in the Welsh 22.

Here was the winning and losing, most observers said.

“I don’t think they finished the game,” said O’Mahony. “I think we struggled. They put a lot of pressure on us lineout-wise. They put a lot of pressure on us in a lot of areas and the better team won on the day.”

Ireland’s indiscipline, which handed Wales an early 12-point lead was described as “uncharacteristic”, that initial lack of intensity explained away by an inability to get hands on the ball and the frequent whistles from the referee’s direction.

“We didn’t start well, certainly,” said Tommy Bowe. “We gifted them four easy penalties, which is something that we’ll definitely look at. We had talked a lot about Wayne Barnes and what we needed to do in the breakdown area. That’s something we’ll be disappointed with.

“In the Six Nations, to give a team such a lead as that, especially away from home, you’re playing catch-up, you’re making the job very hard for yourself. We came back into it, we pushed hard and we’re disappointed to not come away with more.”

Ultimately, there was next to nothing in the words spoken afterwards that shed any illumination on the events that had unfolded. Ireland’s shortcomings were laid plain. Words were almost deemed superfluous. What matters now is what happens next.

“We’ll be hurting now, we’re disappointed,” said Bowe. “But …we’ve got it all to play for. The first opportunity for an Irish team to win back to back titles in I don’t know long (is still there). So we’ll be pumped up for it.”