Six Nations: Gatland applauds Irish spirit

Ireland coach Warren Gatland praised the character of his side following their record Six Nations defeat of Wales at the Millennium Stadium this afternoon.

Gatland saw his side run out 36-6 winners to maintain the remarkable record of not having been beaten in Cardiff since 1983.

It was a fine performance from Ireland who dominated their opponents in every facet of the game, but it was also an abject performance from the Welsh.

However, Gatland preferred to concentrate on the improvement made by his side following the comprehensive defeat by Scotland at Murrayfield last month.

"We spoke long and hard about the Scotland defeat during the week," he said.

"We were very disappointed with our performance but I think today reflected where the team has come from in the last few years.

"The Scotland display wasn’t acceptable but it didn’t make us a poor team overnight. You just have look at the overall progress we’re making.

"We went back to the basics today, got across the gainline and played the corners a lot more. We put Wales under a lot of pressure.

"It was a fantastic first half and I think we deserved a few more points before the interval.

"I thought the effort and attitude of the players was outstanding. Their character really came through today and I’m delighted with them."

Gatland lavished rich praise on recalled fly-half David Humphreys who finished his afternoon’s work with a 19-point haul.

"He was man of the match," he said. "We picked him to do a job and he did exactly what we expected.

"He’s playing with a lot of confidence. His goalkicking was excellent, his kicking out of the hand was good, he ran the game and communicated very well.

"I couldn’t have asked for more. It was a pretty complete performance from an outside half."

Skipper Keith Wood was also pleased with Ireland’s display and was equally impressed by his team-mates’ attitude to the game.

"There were a lot of pleasing aspects," he said.

"What I loved was that we didn’t panic - we crossed the line twice in the first half but they weren’t tries. Despite that, we just trotted up to the next scrum and tried again.

"It did take 70 minutes to grind them down. But we might not have ground them down at all and if that was the case and we kept going we would have won 15-6.

"We would have been just as happy with that score as we are now because we would have won the match."