Aaron Shingler: Wales will throw everything at Ireland
Victory is now essential at the Aviva Stadium for Shingler and company following a 12-6 Twickenham defeat to reigning Six Nations champions England.
It could have been a different story had television match official Glenn Newman not controversially ruled out Wales back Gareth Anscombe’s first-half try after he appeared to edge a touchdown race ahead of England wing Anthony Watson.
But Wales were left to reflect on what might have been as England ultimately reeled off a 15th successive Six Nations home win.
“We have got to be positive, don’t we?” said Wales flanker Shingler. “We are still in it.
“They (Ireland) are a good team and it will be a tough challenge at home. We will throw everything at them and play the style we have been playing. Hopefully, we get the win.”
Wales kept England scoreless for an hour after wing Jonny May scored two early tries, but penalties from Anscombe and fly-half Rhys Patchell were the only dents they made on their opponents’ 12-point advantage.
“Obviously, we came here for a win and didn’t get that, so we are disappointed,” said Shingler.
“We had small opportunities that we didn’t take. Credit to them, really, they had more territory and possession than us, so that’s the way it went.
“I felt we needed a bit of magic from someone. We have the players to do it. But that is the way it goes.”
Meanwhile, England will scrummage against Georgia this week with Dylan Hartley outlining the consequences if they fail to view the sessions as anything other than the equivalent of a Test match.
The Georgians will spend tomorrow and Wednesday providing Eddie Jones’ pack with an examination of their set-piece expertise.
A similar event was staged against Wales in Bristol before the 2017 autumn series and it was deemed a success, leading to Jones setting up a similar scenario against one of the game’s most accomplished scrummaging nations.
“Every scrum has to be intense otherwise you get folded up like a travel map stuffed in your back pocket,” said captain and hooker Hartley.
“I’m looking forward to it. It will be a really useful tool and I’m sure they will take something from it as well.
“We’re always looking to improve our scrum. It has been going well for us. They are good players who play Top 14, good operators.
“You think that by mixing it up and training against someone different we will find something out about ourselves and we will learn.
Head coach Jones had floated the idea of England travelling to Tbilisi to train against Georgia before it was decided they would visit London, with the Rugby Football Union picking up the cost of accommodation.
“We’ll do scrums and line-outs against them. We want to have the best scrum in the world and they’re the biggest, ugliest, strongest scrum pack in the world,” said Jones.
“Why wouldn’t we want to scrummage against them? It’s fantastic. We’re good friends with their two coaches, Milton Haig and Richard Graham — a Kiwi and an Aussie. They were keen on the idea and it suits us perfectly.
“We want to win the Six Nations but we’re also using this as a trial for the World Cup, so it’s a great opportunity for us to get some really quality scrum practice in.
“It will be practice, but we will do the same number of scrums that we would have in a game.”
Tries: May 2. Cons: Farrell.
Pens: Patchell, Anscombe.
Brown, Watson, Joseph, Farrell, May, Ford, Care, Vunipola, Hartley, Cole, Launchbury, Itoje, Lawes, Robshaw, Simmonds.
Nowell for Watson (45), Te’o for Ford (68), Wigglesworth for Care (65), George for Hartley (1), Williams for Cole (65), Kruis for Launchbury (68), Underhill for Simmonds (41).
Hepburn.
Halfpenny, Adams, S. Williams, Parkes, S. Evans, Patchell, G. Davies, R. Evans, Owens, Lee, Hill, A. Jones, Shingler, Navidi, Moriarty.
North for Patchell (56), A. Davies for G. Davies (66), W. Jones for R. Evans (58), Dee for Owens (65), Francis for Lee (58), B. Davies for Hill (74), Tipuric for Moriarty (65).
Anscombe.
Jerome Garces (France).
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