SIX NATIONS: Players are 'devastated' says Ireland captain Rory Best after loss to Wales

Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt rued his team's error count after their Six Nations title hopes were all but ended by Wales in the Principality Stadium.
By The Newsroom
Published 11th Mar 2017, 00:34 BST
Updated 24th Mar 2017, 11:02 BST
Ireland's Rory Best with Dan Biggar of Wales after the gameIreland's Rory Best with Dan Biggar of Wales after the game
Ireland's Rory Best with Dan Biggar of Wales after the game

The home side capitalised on Irish mistakes and scored three tries in Friday’s 22-9 victory in Cardiff.

“I really admired the way the team clawed their way back but we made a couple of errors and those things accumulate,” said Schmidt.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“We undid ourselves effectively and set ourselves up to be scored against.”

Ireland's Jonathan Sexton dejected after the gameIreland's Jonathan Sexton dejected after the game
Ireland's Jonathan Sexton dejected after the game

Ireland conceded 10 points while Johnny Sexton was in the sin-bin at the start of the second half.

Schmidt said his team “got stung” but believes they will respond with a good performance in next week’s Six Nations finale against England at the Aviva Stadium.

“Sometimes these things spin on very little margins,” he said.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“Next week you could convert two or three things and you win those games. We’ve got to make sure we roll our sleeves up and make sure that happens because there is still a lot to play for.

Ireland's head coach Joe Schmidt and Rory BestIreland's head coach Joe Schmidt and Rory Best
Ireland's head coach Joe Schmidt and Rory Best

“We can still finish in the top three.”

Ireland captain Rory Best admitted the visitors “only have ourselves to blame” after seeing their Six Nations title hopes suffer a huge blow.

“We are bitterly disappointed. Wales are a quality side but we made a lot of mistakes,” Best said.

“Barring at 6-5, we never really got in front or dominated the way we’d have liked and had a few chances in the 22 that we didn’t convert.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad
Ireland's Jonathan Sexton dejected after the gameIreland's Jonathan Sexton dejected after the game
Ireland's Jonathan Sexton dejected after the game

“They put us under pressure but we have to deal with that better. We put a lot of ball down and it wasn’t really like us. We’re normally more clinical than that.

“It’s devastating. We came here expecting to win.”

Wales’ championship hopes were extinguished after defeats by England and Scotland and man of the match Rhys Webb was happy the home side silenced their critics with George North scoring twice and Jamie Roberts adding a late third.

“Everyone was writing us off week in, week out, but we didn’t become a bad team overnight,” said scrum-half Webb.

“We felt we performed well in the last three games but we played for the full 80 minutes and put in one hell of a shift against a very good Irish side.”

Related topics:IrelandWalesSix NationsEngland