| Venue: Principality Stadium, Cardiff Date: Saturday, 25 February Kick-off:16:45 GMT |
| Coverage: Live on BBC One Wales, S4C, BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru and Radio 5 Sports Extra, the BBC Sport website & app; live text commentary on BBC Sport website & app. Highlights and analysis, Scrum V Six Nations, BBC Two Wales, Sunday, 26 February. |
Wales coach Warren Gatland admits his side are in a “bit of a hole” after suffering a record points defeat against Scotland.
The 35-7 loss was a second successive defeat for Gatland after taking over as Wales head coach for a second time.
It was also an 11th loss in 14 matches for Wales with England visiting Cardiff on 25 February.
“We are in a little bit of a hole at the moment and it’s how we fight our way out of it,” said Gatland.
Wales’ previous record points defeat against Scotland was a 35-10 loss in Edinburgh in 1924.
It was Gatland’s first defeat against Scotland as Wales head coach in 12 attempts. It was also the first time Wales have lost their opening two Six Nations matches since 2007.
“It’s about being tight as a group and honest and critical of the things we know we can fix up,” said Gatland.
“We just have to do it pretty quickly.”
When asked whether Wales are suffering from a lack of confidence, Gatland added: “Yes, possibly. Sometimes, winning becomes a habit, but so does losing as well. It’s just about getting through that.
“From our point of view you finish chances and you need to be vocal and communicating from the outside in.
“There were some players who were quiet on a few occasions. That’s probably down to a little bit of lack of confidence at certain stages.
“The first couple of performances have been disappointing. We spoke in the changing room afterwards and it’s about making sure that we are honest as a group.”
Gatland admitted discipline and not being clinical were major contributory factors to yet another loss.
“It was probably some of the same stuff against Ireland so we need to be pretty ruthless in terms of how we approach going forward,” added Gatland.
“We have given away 19 penalties in the game which is not acceptable at this level.
“Again we have created opportunities and not been clinical enough. We have been in the 22 for about six minutes and not come away with much.
“The disappointing this is when you’ve focused on a number of things during the week and they don’t improve.”
Gatland had made five personnel changes in the forwards following defeat by Ireland as he opted for youth instead of experience.
Exeter pair Dafydd Jenkins, 20, and Christ Tshiunza, 21 and Leicester flanker Tommy Reffell, 23, started with Alun Wyn Jones, 37, and Justin Tipuric, 33, left out of the squad and Taulupe Faletau, 32, on the replacements bench.
“I thought Dafydd Jenkins was good, Christ Tshiunza had some good carries so for me that was some of the positives the input of those guys and I was pleased with them,” added Gatland.
“People were calling for changes and then you make changes and they talk about the players who have been left out. Sometimes it’s a lose-lose situation.”
Gatland also said that centre George North had passed his head injury assessment (HIA) after being the victim of a high tackle from Scotland hooker George Turner who was shown a yellow card for the challenge.
Wales insist they followed the HIA protocols and North was deemed fit to return for the second half.
Wales have three matches left in the Six Nations with England at home followed by away trips to face Italy and France.
Gloucester wing Louis Rees-Zammit will be fit to face England as Gatland weighs up to what to do with his side ahead of the World Cup in France later this year.
“I think that time together in terms of preparation for the World Cup will take care of a lot of that stuff, but we’ve got a more urgent issue at the moment in fixing things that are being costly for us,” added Gatland.
“I don’t think they are hard fixes. I just think it’s making sure we are mentally switched on and a bit more clinical from an attack perspective.
“When we come under pressure we need to trust ourselves, trust each other, trust the system, and make sure we aren’t giving away unforced penalties or doubling up on errors or piggy backing up the field.
“We were guilty of that last week and we were guilty of that today.
“It is something when I have been involved with Wales we have prided ourselves on our discipline, trusting the systems and each other and being clinical when we create opportunities.
“It is something we need to fix pretty quickly.”
