Gatland: We’re in good shape for Japan
WARREN Gatland insisted Wales are in fine fettle for the World Cup and still have some tricks up their sleeves for Japan despite seeing his team suffer a third warm-up defeat.
Gatland’s men were beaten 19-10 by Ireland at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium yesterday in their last encounter before a World Cup opener with Georgia on September 23.
It was a second straight defeat to the men in green for Wales and followed a loss and a win in two meetings with England.
“You hold a little bit back and you work on a few things. That’s important,” Gatland said. “These are warm-up games, not Six Nations games where it matters about winning.
“We’ve got these under our belts and tried some combinations.”
Asked if he was concerned over Wales’ recent run of losses, Gatland added: “Not at all. The turnover rate was disappointing and we conceded three tries, but we showed some great character at the end of the game and we didn’t concede with 14 men. We could have easily folded with that level of territory and possession. We didn’t do that.”
Wales captain Alun Wyn Jones said: “That was a framework on how not to play. The penalty count gave Ireland an opportunity to knock on the door. The character we showed was the main positive.”
Head coach Gatland insisted Rhys Patchell would be fine to travel to the World Cup despite suffering a fourth head knock in the space of just 18 months.
Patchell, the back-up flyhalf in the Wales squad, started in Dublin but lasted just 24 minutes after suffering concussion tackling CJ Stander. The 26-year-old was substituted for Dan Biggar and the pair are the only two fly-halves in Wales’ 31-man World Cup party.
Gatland said: “It was just a head injury assessment. Rhys has got to be assessed over the next few days. He seems OK in the changing room now and he will be fine.
“We will talk to the medics about that (Patchell’s previous head knocks) and see how he fares over the next couple of days. We are hoping he gets some positive luck because he deserves it.
“When he has got that knock he has probably gone a bit low.
“The ironic thing is everyone is talking about the head and keeping the tackles down, but most of the concussions come from the tackler going low and making contact with hips and knees. That is one
aspect we need to continue to work on the defensive player as well.” Wales led 10-7 at the break thanks to Hadleigh Parkes’ try and the boot of Leigh Halfpenny, but they failed to score in the second period as Ireland’s forwards dominated physically. Rob Kearney had opened the scoring for the Irish in the first half and his score was added to by efforts from Tadhg Furlong and man of the match James Ryan. One positive for Wales was no injuries to their key players. Parkes said: “In the first ten or so minutes after half time we probably lost the arm wrestle a little bit. “They got on top of us and they’re big lads the Irish boys, but we’re building for the next couple of weeks and what matters is Georgia at the World Cup. “It’s disappointing and physicality is something we need to keep working on particularly away from home. It’s an easy fix.” Ireland’s victory was their best performance of 2019 and their forwards stood up to be counted in what was a final Dublin game for head coach Joe Schmidt and captain Rory Best. “Relief is probably the primary emotion. It was a performance we can be proud of,” said Schmidt. “In the first quarter we couldn’t keep hold of the ball, but we built our way into the game and I felt we dominated the last quarter. It was not necessarily pretty to watch. “The focus on the World Cup is huge. Scotland have had a couple of big wins over Georgia and a good win against France. “Across the board there was a real work ethic. We looked dangerous with the ball and once we squeezed Wales in the 22, we muscled up really well.” Ireland moved to the summit of World Rugby’s rankings with victory over Wales. Schmidt added: “It’s a nice label to get and the first time, but that is not relevant to anyone. We know who the favourites are for the World Cup and it isn’t us.