GRITS

IRELAND’S grit and determination makes them Grand Slam champions in waiting.

That is the view of Wales head coach Warren Gatland (above) after his team were beaten in Dublin.

Joe Schmidt’s side are now the only side who can claim a Six Nations clean sweep after England’s defeat by Scotland.

“They are hard to break down, that is the thing about the Irish team,” Gatland said. “They are not flashy or anything like that, but they are clinical in terms of how accurate they are.

“They keep the ball for lots of phases and when they get into your 22, they normally come away with points. The disappointing thing from our point of view is that the things we worked on during the week came back to haunt us against them – like discipline.”

Ireland skipper Rory Best agreed with the Kiwi’s assessment, saying: “We know we can win games in whatever way we need to.”

Wales were beaten five tries to three at the Aviva Stadium. Ireland wing Jacob Stockdale opened and closed the scoring with a brace. In between, Bundee Aki, Dan Leavy and Cian Healy also crossed as Ireland were deserved winners.

They played in fits and spurts, but were dominated at the contact area. Tries from Gareth Davies, Aaron Shingler and Steffan Evans were not enough for an away success.

Wales are now out of the title running, but the impact of George North (above) as a second-half replacement was one positive for Gatland.

“George was good. I thought he looked really dangerous and it was good to see him back,” added the Wales boss.