Rob Howley Q&A
ARE YOU RELIEVED OR FRUSTRATED? Relief more than frustration. Japan were the better team and they deserved to win.
It was a great drop by Sam Davies but throughout the game we fuelled their enthusiasm and energy.
They came at us with the ball in hand, and we knew they would, and we couldn’t get out of our own half second half. Two offloads when we’ve had the ball have cost us 14 points.
We were inaccurate playing from our own 22.
And like I said to the players, whilst we come away with the win, it certainly felt like a loss.
Japan deserve the accolades they will get and they were the better team.
But we got past the winning post two games on the trot, which gives us some confidence, but it’s relief. WHEN YOU LOOK BACK ON THAT, HOW DO YOU ASSESS IT? We picked a really strong team, with experience, there were some new combinations in there. When we’ve made changes on other occasions in the autumn, we’ve come up with that kind of performance sometimes.
But we felt that we had the continuity in selection, we had experience. Whilst we won the games, the elements of the game that we’ve been good at in recent months, we lost the aerial battle today.
Their kicking game certainly put us under real pressure. They were able to find space and put pressure on our back three.
As a result of losing that we lost territory, particularly in the last 20 minutes.
In fairness to Japan, they had the skill, energy, enthusiasm and were unfortunate not to win the game. YOU’VE CONCEDED 10 TRIES IN THREE GAMES, IS YOUR DEFENCE A WORRY? Of course it’s a worry.
When they’ve scored today, it’s come from us having the ball. We want to encourage an offloading game.
When you win the collision, you earn the right to offload and we probably didn’t do that today.
We encourage our players to have intent, offloading and ambition - it’s important in the modern game - and today two of them went against us.
Defensively I thought we slowed the ball up in the contact area, like we did last week, so that’s a plus.
But it is a worry when you do concede tries. IS IT A QUESTION OF THE EXECUTION BEING POOR OR THE MESSAGES NOT GETTING THROUGH IN TERMS OF TACTICS... What tactics? IN TERMS OF USE OF POSSESSION… We wanted to play the game off 10 and we changed that within the first 15-20 minutes, we started coming off nine.
It was probably our kicking game from the amber zone that put us under pressure.
It’s the accuracy in our kicking game.
I thought they controlled the game today. A WORD ON SAM DAVIES… Delighted for him. He came in against Australia and was positive. The composure that he showed. I thought we had the opportunity just a few minutes before that to go back into the pocket.
But the way he struck it was fantastic.
The ball hit their player on our side, so if it hadn’t have gone over, it would have been interesting to see what the decision would have been.
It was a great drop goal and he’ll deserve the accolades. WHAT KIND OF SHAPE IS THE SQUAD IN AHEAD OF THE SOUTH AFRICA GAME? We’ve got no injuries, we’ve had some good medical feedback.
So we’ll select the best available side to face South Africa.
It’s a great win for Italy against them. I don’t think the weather was too great down in Florence.
With the roof closed next week, I think it will be a different game.
I must say, it was great to see the number of children that have come out to see the game today. They may not have understood the ingredients of the game over the 80 minutes but Sam came on and won the game and they’ll be going home happy, as kids.
They’ve experienced a full house at the Principality Stadium.
Long may that continue. WHAT IS THE MINDSET IN THE CHANGING ROOM? They’re disappointed by the performance. We used a get out of jail card. Sam showed composure and we got field position in the last minutes when it counted.
It’s a win and it’s important you look back with some confidence in elements of the game, in individual performances, especially in the pack.
I thought Nicky Smith showed great footwork, carried well, and I thought Scott Baldwin put his hand up today, he played well.
There’s food for thought next week.