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Dragons ‘must find bite after shocking collapse’
WALES skipper Dan Bigger vowed his score-shy side cannot afford another repeat of his horror show in Ireland.
Taine Basham saved Wales from being whitewashed for the first time in Six Nations history when he picked up an interception try in the 75th minute.
But there was little or nothing else to admire in the kind of performance most Welsh fans had been fearing.
Until the intervention from Basham, it had been pretty much one-way traffic as a rampant Irish pack paved the way for a bonus-point victory.
It took Wales 22 minutes to get into the Irish 22, 59 minutes to earn a penalty and then 75 minutes to get a score.
Having won their opening fixture in the past five tournaments, this was an abysmal start for the champions.
So relaxed were the Irish fans that they started doing the Mexican Wave 10 minutes before the end – the ultimate insult for Wayne Pivac’s battered and bruised side.
Wales host Scotland next and Biggar said: “We have to get our house in order and find a bit more edge to us in training this week before we meet the Scots. There isn’t a huge amount to fix.
“From a tactical point of view it was hard work out there. But we are better than that and we know it.
“There is no doubt it was a frustrating afternoon and we didn’t get enough front foot ball. You need discipline and physicality when you come to Dublin and we were lacking both.”
The dominant Irish got off to a flying start and scored with less than three minutes on the clock.
New wing Mack Hansen raced up the left wing before kicking over Liam Williams and forcing Wales to conceded a line-out in their 22.
Josh van der Flier broke clear and the ball was worked from right to left and Hansen provided the final pass to his Connacht team-mate Bundee Aki wide out on the left. The only good news for Wales was that after nailing his touchline conversion, Ireland skipper Johnny Sexton then missed with two routine penalties. Sexton did hit the mark midway through the opening half from another penalty conceded in front of their own posts by the Welsh defenders.
That made it 10-0 and the home side’s early dominance was underlined by the match stats to that point – 78 percent possession and 68 percent territory.
The 2021 Six Nations’ champions gradually worked their way into the game and at least did not concede any more points
before the break.
But that did not last too long as Andrew Conway crossed within four minutes of the re-start. Sexton converted with a windassisted banana kick and things simply
went from bad to worse for Wales when Josh Adams went to the sin-bin for a reckless off-the-ball charge into Sexton.
By the time he returned Conway had scored again and Garry Ringrose had romped over for the bonus-point try with the gap now increased to 29 points.
Wales coach Pivac refused to blame injury woes for the loss and he said: “We’ve got to regroup and be better.
Sexton says there’s more to come from his side and said: “We’ve got lots to improve but it’s great to do that after a win. We can build momentum now – but we’re going to have to be at our best to win in Paris.”