By Ioan Thomas
WARREN Gatland was defiant despite a disappointing Wales performance in a 10-34 defeat to a “clinical” Ireland.
The world number one ranked side ran out convincing winners with tries coming from Caelan Doris, James Lowe, Josh Van Der Flier and James Ryan.
But Gatland refused to be too downcast.
He said: “I think the slow start was probably brought on by ourselves in the fact that we conceded some penalties and that gave them the momentum to get into our 22.
“That penalty count in the first half was 7-1 or something like that. It definitely gave them the momentum to get the start they had and put us under pressure.”
Wales started the second half well and hit back in the 46th minute with Liam Williams finishing off a well worked play.
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Gatland added: “The second half was a huge improvement and we spoke about our line-speed in terms of coming at them harder and putting them under pressure.
“We created a number of chances, and we weren’t clinical enough to finish them.
“The number of entries into both side’s 22’s were about the same and they’ve come away winning like they did.”
New Wales skipper, Ken Owens, highlighted how the team failed to “deliver” on their game plans.
Owens said: “It was tough we didn’t deliver on what we spoke about.
“They didn’t do anything that surprised us, they played on top of us and that discipline gave them entries and that’s where they are very good.
“The boys left everything out on the field and I thought we took some good decisions, brave decisions, but we lacked a bit of accuracy, myself included, with lineouts and first phase turning the ball over.”
Gatland and his team will be looking to put this defeat behind them when they face Scotland at Murrayfield next Saturday.