WALES CENTRE JAMIE Roberts says he and his team-mates are ‘kicking themselves’ after dropping a point and a chance to beat Ireland in their opening Six Nations clash in Dublin.
Despite leading 13 – 0 after the opening half hour, Ireland required a 74th-minute equalising penalty from Jonathan Sexton to force a 16-all draw and avoid a first home Six Nations defeat under Joe Schmidt.
“Is it fair to call it a draw? I’m not too sure,” the bruising Harlequins centre said post-match.
“Ireland have, in fairness, come out of the blocks quicker than us. They played far better than us in the opening 20.
“We’ve done very well to come back into it. And on 76 minutes (sic), we’ve got the game won. We’ve exited poorly and ultimately that has gifted them three points. If that ball ends up in the Irish 22, it’s game over. So that’s disappointing.
I suppose you look at big moments in games and we will look back at that and kick ourselves really that we didn’t go on to win that game.”
Taulupe Faletau, whose try pulled Wales back within spitting distance of Ireland before half-time, spoke softly but carried a stick with a similar message.
“Not at all to be honest,” the number eight responded when asked how satisfied he was with the display.
Faletau is a man of very few words, but before philosophically surmising that a draw was at least better than defeat, he made his feelings clear enough.
“I think we gave ourselves a chance to win that game and a draw is hard to take I guess.
“We did well to get back in the game, but we wanted more out of the game than a draw.”
Indeed, even after Sexton had pulled Ireland level, Wales worked themselves in to a position to win the game. Fortunately for Ireland, the visitors opted against putting a string of phases together and the drop-goal attempt from Rhys Priestland appeared rushed long before it veered wide of the posts.
“Our job is to try to put us on the front foot,” said Roberts.
“Then that is a job for the half-backs. If if it sails over, it’s a great drop-goal. That’s how ruthless it can be. He has had a pop. I’ve played in games when 10s have been afraid to have a pop so fair play to him for having a go.”
The 29-year-old centre looked remarkably fresh post-match, considering he had just put his shoulder to a game-high tally of 21 tackles – just a fraction of Wales’ grand total of 163. Though disappointed with the result, he certainly knew he had been in a game.
“I’m a glorified second row,” jokes the centre when his stand-out stat is mentioned.
You have to credit Ireland, they attacked well and defended with width, they held their line well and we chucked an awful lot at them. And vice versa, we defended magnificently at times, they never cut us open though.”
“It was a physical game with a high ball in play time, upper 30 minutes. The lungs were certainly burning at the end and that is a credit to both sides, it was a tough, tough test match.
“It was great to see guys trying to take the result at the end, not kicking the ball out at the end. Both sides desperately wanted the result at the end.
“It’s a draw. We won a championship in 2013 after losing a game and we all know what happened last year when teams dropped a game. So the championship is wide open. If we win our next three games we’ll be in with a shout.”
For Wales, it’s home comfort and Scotland next weekend. Ireland’s schedule feels even tougher as thoughts turn to Paris.
