By Iestyn Thomas
Warren Gatland delivered a blunt verdict after his side’s defeat to England: “It’s not the opposition hurting us, we’re hurting ourselves”.
Tries from Anthony Watson, Kyle Sinckler and Ollie Lawrence sealed the deal for England despite a Louis Rees-Zammit interception score for Wales at the start of the second half.
This result means Wales are rooted to the bottom of the Six Nations table and have only won four out of their last 15 tests at the Principality Stadium.
After a sixth consecutive defeat for Wales, Gatland said: “We can be critical of ourselves, we created a lot of problems for ourselves by not being accurate in key and critical moments.
“That’s what Test rugby is all about, you’re in that arm wrestle and you’ve got to stay in the fight, you’ve got to be accurate.
“I’ve spoken about how we need to control the things we are able to do in critical moments, whether that’s nailing a lineout or the ball going to ground from a pass.
“There were a number of things I was happy with, but we’re not quite there yet.”
When asked about two crucial turnovers before half-time, Gatland added:
“That was a little bit of our achillies heel at the moment, talking about being accurate and clinical in the opposition 22 and probably exposing the ball and allowing the opposition to get on it.
“I thought one of them was a bit unlucky, I thought hands are on the ground and stuff and we didn’t get too many penalties from breakdown stuff, we had a couple against us.
“That’s not being critical of the referee, it’s just the way it is. We need to be a little bit more accurate and patient in that area.”
Gatland discussed some individual performances, saying: “I thought Joe Hawkins went well and Mason (Grady) for his first cap.
“I think we’ve looked at a few players, but you need a little bit of continuity in terms of selection.
“We wanted to find out about some of players in the squad through matches and training, thinking about cohesion going forward and particularly for the Italy game which will be important.
“The last thing you want to do is get a Wooden Spoon. That’s got to be our focus (now).
Gatland took a brief glimpse forward at the World Cup later this year.
He said: “I think that a part of the Six Nations is about us thinking about the next six to seven months.
“The best thing about the World Cup is the time you’ve got together.
“I know when we get to the World Cup that hard work that we would have put in, the improvement that we’ll get in strength, power, fitness will have a significant impact in terms of the performances of this team going forward.
Wales skipper Ken Owens added: “I’m proud of the boys, we fronted up, there was a lot of good stuff out there, the energy, the work rate, I can’t question that.
“With everything that’s gone on and when we’ve been on the field we have worked hard and put a shift in.
“We drew a line in the sand on Wednesday, we’re not having that as an excuse and we are disappointed to have lost a Test match.
“We had opportunities to put more points on the board and we didn’t.”