WALES BLOWN OFF COURSE BY ERROR-STREWN DUBLIN DISPLAY

AS Storm Ciara gathered force on its way to Dublin, so a chill wind of change saw Wales blown badly off course at the Aviva Stadium.

This is a new Wales under new management and teething problems were always likely.

But the changes we saw during the 24-14 defeat to Ireland did not make for pleasant viewing.

Over the past decade we have become pleasantly used to Wales making the opposition work so hard for their points.

But that was far from the case during this first loss under Wayne Pivac. Instead, the points were practically gift-wrapped.

If you look at the four tries Ireland scored, they all stemmed in some shape or form from Welsh mistakes.

And there were further key errors at key moments which undermined the visitors’ hopes.

The phrase “a catalogue of errors” was seldom more appropriate. This was no glossy catalogue, but it was packed with gifts.

As you go through the Irish tries one by one it makes for a grim story.

The first from Jordan Larmour will not be pleasant viewing come the defensive review.

Larmour is an elusive runner with great feet, but there really should have been no way through for him when he received the ball out on the right some 15 metres from the line. But here the Welsh errors begin. Nick Tompkins had a dream debut against Italy, but it was to be something of a rude awakening to the harsh realities of top-level international rugby for him at the Aviva.

The Irish went after him hard from the outset with Robbie Henshaw making a bee-line for him.

And when Larmour went down his channel, the Saracens centre was guilty of over-chasing, with the Leinster full-back stepping inside him and out of his high grasp before going through Tomos Williams on his way to the line.

It was a soft try to concede and not what we have become used to from Wales.

They did hit back with a neatly carved score for scrum-half Williams, with Alun Wyn Jones’s offload to Dan Biggar the defence-splitter.

But that was swiftly followed by another self-inflicted wound.

From a defensive line-out, all seemed under control as Alun Wyn leapt high and threw the ball down to Williams.

Now the Cardiff Blues No.9 has great hands, but on this occasion they just let him down as he knocked on.

There were consoling pats on the head from his team-mates, but the damage was done.

At the resulting five-metre scrum Ireland got the nudge on to earn a penalty, but they didn’t need it.

With referee Romain Poite playing advantage, they fully capitalised on their position, with prop Tadgh Furlong getting those Wexford farmer’s legs pumping and driving his way through the red ranks to the line.

Any hopes that the Welsh errors might recede after the break proved to be false.

The third Irish try stemmed from another misfire, this time at the lineout where they picked off a Welsh throw.

That error was compounded by another as Taulupe Faletau was penalised for diving in at the side of a ruck and from the resulting kick to the corner an Irish line-out drive steamrolled its way over, with Josh van der Flier claiming the try.

Almost inevitably, the final Irish score, which earned them a bonus point, originated from a Welsh mistake as well.

This time it was George North who dropped the ball as the visitors tried to run out of defence.

Handed another opportunity, the Irish once again showed their efficiency as they built the pressure and worked Andrew Conway over in the right corner.

Somewhat fittingly, that score also highlighted an issue in the Welsh game which had been apparent all afternoon, their narrowness in defence.

On a couple of occasions in the first half the Irish had worked a man over with just simple passing down the line, such was the blanket you could throw over the compressed red jerseys.

And on 75 minutes that narrow Welsh rearguard was brutally exposed when a long pass from Larmour found Conway in acres of space out on the right.

So those were the tries. But the error count doesn’t end there, unfortunately.

It was also evident when Wales were on the attack.

They made eight handling errors in all, a tally which Pivac acknowledged was “unacceptable”.

Now clearly they are looking to evolve a different kind of game as 16 offloads would indicate.

It can be good to watch and when it comes off, as with Williams’s try, it’s really effective.

But with high reward comes high risk and balls are going to be put down.

It comes with the territory.

Yet, as Pivac himself pointed out during his post-match press conference, not all the handling errors were made under pressure.

Some of them were unforced and down to “skill execution”, as he put it. That he will not be pleased with.

To compound the situation, Wales also conceded 13 turnovers.

So, overall, it was a tale of inaccuracy and profligacy.

It was also a tale of missed opportunity.

There was Hadleigh Parkes’s marginal failure to get the ball down cleanly on 55 minutes after he had picked a great line, and then there was the penalty conceded on an attacking five-metre scrum just past the hour mark.

In those two moments any hopes of getting back into the game were dashed.

So, in summary, it was mistakes, mistakes and more mistakes.

You just can’t come to Dublin, make that many errors and expect to win the game.

Ultimately, the new Wales were their own worst enemies as the storm clouds gathered overhead.