Warren Gatland has nailed his colours firmly to the mast in the wake of the 34-10 defeat to Ireland in his first game back in charge.
He insists he can fix the things that went wrong. So what exactly needs fixing and what are his chances of doing so in time for Saturday’s showdown with Scotland in Murrayfield?
These are the issues that need addressing.
Far too many missed tackles and lost collisions
Perhaps the most disturbing statistic to come out of Saturday’s Six Nations opener at the Principality Stadium was that Wales missed no fewer than 33 tackles.
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That was the kind of tally you hardly saw during Gatland’s previous 11 year reign at the helm when Shaun Edwards was running the defence. So what exactly were the issues with the Welsh rearguard? Well the tries conceded are always a good place to start and they prove enlightening.
Clearly the interception score from wing James Lowe speaks for itself, but the other three touchdowns are worth detailed examination.
In each case, Wales sowed the seeds for their own undoing by bringing pressure on themselves. It began straight from the first whistle, with Tomos Williams failing to find touch after fielding the kick-off from Johnny Sexton. Then when Ireland spread the ball to the other side of the field and kicked down the tramline through Lowe, the Welsh exit was again found wanting, via a combination of Liam Williams and Josh Adams being under pressure.
The end result was an Irish lineout in the opposition 22 and that spells danger. So it proved. Wales held up the initial maul but they simply had no answer to what followed, in the shape of a series of powerful forward carries, the key one coming from lock James Ryan who took play right up to the line ahead of Caelan Doris surging over between George North and Liam Williams.
The game is about collisions these days and in this opening exchange Wales had come second best in them.
The second try, in the ninth minute, was another example of Gatland’s men first putting themselves under pressure and then losing those collisions. Through stepping offside on the Irish 10 metre line, they ended up defending a lineout just outside their own 22. Then it was about the gain line and Ireland’s relentless ability to cross it, through the spinning Ringrose, the front row strength of Sheehan and Porter, the arcing run of Hugo Keenan.
That took him into the Welsh 22 and they were not about to leave there without points. Another succession of beefy forward carries earned a further penalty for offside and from the resulting tap and go, it was too easy as Sheehan and Doris did the softening up ahead of Ryan surging between Joe Hawkins and George North on a low drive to the line, with his second row pal Beirne latched on for support. Cue the choruses of Fields of Athenry.
Then, finally, there was the bonus point try eight minutes from time. It was a very similar story. Replacement fly-half Owen Williams sliced his kick infield, enabling Hugo Keenan to launch a counter from just inside his own half, a counter which Wales just couldn’t contain.
It was a perfect illustration of how to build a score from the Irish, as they showed patience, composure and no little skill, going through 15 phases to eventually unpick a rearguard down a man following the sin-binning of Liam Williams.
They steadily made their way upfield, with forwards and backs taking it in turns to make the yards. There were two offloads out of the side door from Mack Hansen to Sheehan that earned telling ground and then the finish was down to the footwork of Josh van der Flier as he put himself into a hole between Rhys Carre and Joe Hawkins. It was job done.
So where does it leave Wales? Well it’s valid to point out that new defence coach Mike Forshaw has only had a very limited number of sessions since taking up his post. It is going to take time to put patterns and policies in place.
It is also fair to say there was an improvement in the second half in terms of the defensive linespeed. That certainly needs to be the way forward, with attitude and aggression in the contact area crucial.
There can’t be a repeat of the opening quarter against the Irish where the men in green had the dominance in the collisions and made ground with indecent ease.
Nor can there be any more loose kicking and ineffective exits, especially with the likes of Duhan van der Merwe and Stuart Hogg waiting in the Scottish backfield.
You can expect Gatland to be hammering home these points this week.
You also wonder whether there might be a start for Tommy Reffell to provide more competition over the ball, via slowing down and stealing possession, denying the kind of rapid recycling that was key to the Irish breaching the Welsh defence.
Be more ruthless with try opportunities
Saturday’s clash in Cardiff provided a vivid view of where Wales need to get to in terms of their attacking game. It was provided by their guests.
Ireland made nine entries into the opposition 22 and came away with four tries and two penalties - 34 points.
In stark contrast, Wales made 11 entries but scored just one try. Therein lies the tale of the game in a nutshell.
We’ve looked at how clinical the Irish were in the red zone, through a combination of patience and power. As for Wales, well unfortunately it was a story of blown chances. They had the opportunities, they just couldn’t take them.
You had Rio Dyer being beaten to the ball by Hugo Keenan after a hack ahead, then Dan Biggar’s pass to Liam Williams was intercepted by Lowe after the home side’s first cohesive passage of play had threatened an overlap.
Moving on, Wales simply had to score on 23 minutes when Joe Hawkins made a surging carry up to the whitewash off a scrum, but Biggar was just unable to get the ball away to Josh Adams as he stumbled into the tackle of Ringrose and was then penalised for holding on as Lowe jackaled over him.
There were to be further cases of “if only”, with Justin Tipuric being choke tackled and held up near the Irish line, resulting in a green scrum, while the flanker’s later pass to Dyer just went too high after a searing break from Liam Williams.
Then after Dyer pocketed a speculative Sexton cross kick and burst into the 22, the move petered out as Josh Adams lost the ball in the tackle after coming on to it at pace.
Way too often, the Welsh attacking was frantic and frenetic, amid forced passes, ball spilled in contact and wrong options, when what was needed was the patience and composure demonstrated by the Irish.
Gatland's gang conceded no fewer than 14 turnovers, pointing to a lack of precision and protection, while there were also the three lineouts that went awry in prime positions, which were real momentum wreckers.
The one try they did score was actually well taken. There was neat innovation at a close-range lineout where backs Tomos Williams, Josh Adams and George North were the unlikely front three men, the ball actually being thrown to centre North.
Then after strong carries from Alun Wyn Jones and Ken Owens up to the line, the key was the quick hands of the impressive Joe Hawkins that allowed Biggar to put Liam Williams through a gap.
Creativity, forceful carries, quick ruck ball and nice hands. It was good to watch. Unfortunately that proved to be a one-off, the exception rather than the norm.
So lots for new attack coach Alex King to work on ahead of the trip to Edinburgh.
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Getting quicker ball more often has to be a key ambition, as it was pedestrian and slow much of the time. Improving the efficiency of the ruck clear-out has to be a priority, in terms of speed of delivery and reducing the turnover tally. Then it’s about finding the clinical edge to compliment the decent approach work.
If Wales weren’t creating chances, the concern would be even greater. They are creating them, now they need to take them.
Bring down that penalty count
Teams generally target keeping their penalty count in single figures. Well, Wales had given away nine by half time, so there was little chance of them achieving that.
Five of those were conceded inside the first ten minutes amid two Irish tries. As Gatland said afterwards, that handed Ireland early momentum, enabling them to put Wales “under the pump”. He also made the point that a number of the penalties were “needless” and you can see his point with players stepping offside or failing to heed the referee’s warnings at the breakdown.
It just offered the Irish a piggy back and they rode all the way to the line.
Wales gave away 15 penalties and reducing that tally will be an absolute priority moving forward. The positive is that, as with the defence, there was an improvement in the second half and that better discipline will need to be evident from the start up in Murrayfield.
Sort the lineout woe
Without a solid set-piece platform, it is always going to be a struggle and there were too many wobbles for comfort against the Irish.
The Welsh scrum came under a lot of pressure in the opening quarter, conceding a penalty that enabled Sexton to stretch the score to 17-3.
As for the lineout, there were three crucial failures to secure possession, either through throws going too long, not straight or being picked off. As a result, prime attacking opportunities in the opposition 22 came to nothing and the air went out of the balloon.
So the set-piece needs sharpening up. There will be at least one change in personnel in that department with second row Alun Wyn Jones having failed a HIA. Young Dafydd Jenkins would look the likeliest contender to replace him having made an athletic impact off the bench, although Gatland could again look to utilise an all-Ospreys boilerhouse pairing by going for Rhys Davies alongside Adam Beard.
We wait to see whether there will also be a change in the front row, with tighthead Tomas Francis undergoing a scan on a calf issue. If he is ruled out, you would expect Dillon Lewis to wear No 3, with Leon Brown coming in as back-up. Neither of those have had much rugby, so they would need to dig deep.
If there is also a change in the back row, with Tommy Reffell starting, that would have a bearing on the set-piece with Justin Tipuric, the man likely to make way, a key lineout option. So much to think about selection-wise.
Whatever the make-up of the pack, there clearly needs to be plenty of work on the training ground to provide a more stable and consistent first phase platform.
It is going to be a busy week!
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