'No-one shied away from it' - Ireland face up to 'home truths' after All Blacks loss

New IRFU head of athletic performance Aled Walters said the job was one he could not pass up. 

DREAM JOB: Head of athletic performance Aled Walters during an Ireland Rugby squad training session. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

No time to waste now. Three days since Ireland lost a long and proud unbeaten home record to New Zealand. Just four more to go until they welcome Argentina to the same Aviva Stadium. Any post-mortem has had to be sharp and snappy.

Aled Walters has only been with the squad a matter of weeks, having joined as head of athletic performance, but the Welshman has been impressed by the nature of the review and the readiness to face up to some harsh realities.

“Yeah, it’s such a good group to reflect and to be honest, so home truths, definitely the case. And no-one shied away from it as well. I’ve probably heard more voices this week than I did in my first two weeks. Everyone is pretty intent on correcting a few things.” 

There is hurt, he said, but no anger.

The process of recapping and moving on was almost simultaneous as the squad regathered in Abbotstown on Sunday. As for Walters himself, he can’t profess to know what did or not go wrong having only been on the job a handful of weeks.

He joined from a similar role with England having previously worked with the Leicester Tigers and South Africa, and six years in Limerick with Munster. It was, he said, a job that he could not pass up.

“It was always a dream job and Jason Cowman and colleagues had made such inroads and everyone can see that. I was always envious of the Irish system. When I left I was looking back and seeing things that they were doing really well.

“I liken it to just stepping in somewhere people have spent a lot of time building this fantastic car and I have been given the keys and my job now is not to crash the car immediately. That’s how I see it. I am excited to try add to it going forward.”