Gatland declares: ‘Quarter-final is step one’

Warren Gatland could not sign off with a victory in his final home match in Cardiff, but insisted Wales would head to the World Cup with the best squad of his 12-year tenure and designs on the knockout stages.

In his pre-match interview with broadcaster Channel 4, Gatland admitted to becoming overcome with emotion at the team hotel before making the short journey to the Principality Stadium. He saluted an “incredible ride and incredible journey with players and management”, also paying tribute to the country of Wales.

However, Ireland, and particularly their powerful pack, were in no mood for charity. A flurry of scrum penalties helped carve out a 22-3 lead for the visitors with a revitalised Jacob Stockdale scoring two opportunistic tries, the second coming after Aaron Shingler’s errant offload went to ground.

Ireland had added a penalty try as another Wales set-piece disintegrated, and Gatland promised to pay close attention to the scrum in his review.

Without hiding his disappointment, he labelled the afternoon as a “good exercise” ahead of retiring to finalise his 31-man group for Japan, which will be announced this afternoon.

“I’m happy with a lot that we got out of today,” he said. “This group of players never give up. We were creators of our own downfall at times.”

The chief injury concern will be lock Cory Hill, who has a leg fracture that may keep him out until the third pool match against Australia in Tokyo. Ross Moriarty is expected to feature despite a hip complaint. Whoever makes the cut, Gatland is confident.

“I think it’s the best squad in terms of the depth we’ve got,” he added. “We’ve got an excellent forward group, some real leadership and experience.

“If we do pick up a few injuries like we did in 2015, I think we’d be able to cope so much better. We’ll be very disappointed if we don’t make the quarter-finals and that’s step one.”

Gatland had billed the Ireland encounter as a shoot-out for the second of two fly-half slots, with Jarrod Evans starting and Rhys Patchell among the replacements. Patchell arrived at halftime and made a number of bright contributions, including a tackle on Chris Farrell that forced a spill in the shadow of Wales’ posts and a well-taken try that gave the hosts a chance of an unlikely comeback win.

The role of Dan Biggar’s deputy would have been one of “probably six positions” that were the subject of debate last night, but Gatland did not suggest Evans’ early exit would prove terminal for his World Cup prospects.

“Rhys came on and did a good job,” Gatland added. “But it’s a hell of a lot easier coming off the bench when there’s no pressure on you.

“It was hard for Jarrod in the first half when the team isn’t going as well as it could.”