Wales see room for optimism against France
Wales head coach Warren Gatland adopted an optimistic tone ahead of the Six Nations home match with France in a fortnight saying his side ‘can take a huge amount’ out of Saturday’s 31-7 defeat to Ireland.
Gatland’s outfit are still seeking a first win of this year’s championship, the Ireland loss was the 10th in their last 11 Six Nations matches and their heaviest defeat of the campaign.
Just as in the losses to Scotland (27-26) and to England (16-14) his largely inexperienced team showed spirit against the title holders.
Thanks to some steely defence in the first-half they restricted a dominant Ireland to a 17-0 lead at the break, and could have been closer but for a couple of slapdash errors inside the Ireland 22m. Worryingly for Gatland, it was the third time in six halves of the Six Nations that Welsh had failed to register a point.
However, despite giving Ireland more of a tussle in the second half, the hosts always seemed to be able to go up a gear and did so in the final 15 minutes
“I think we take a huge amount. We showed some great heart and character today. I thought the scoreline probably isn’t right, but it probably reflects where the two sides are in terms of experience. We’ll just keep working as hard as we can,” said Gatland.
The 60-year-old New Zealander has past form in building a formidable Wales side as he did in his first spell in charge.
Taking over after a disastrous 2007 Rugby World Cup he forged a team that went on to win the Six Nations title four times – including three Grand Slams.
He maintained he had seen progress in their performance against the Irish and drew on his playing days as to how fortunes can be turned around.
“I think it’s the players that will have got the most out of today. I look back on my own career as a player, playing for Waikato against Auckland after the 1987 World Cup. They had a number of All Blacks and they probably put 40 points on us,” said Gatland.
“We were starting to become a good team and coming off that experience, I wanted to play them the next week. Because that’s what I learned from as a player and hopefully these guys are getting the same experience from that.”