Wales Women’s coach Jason Lewis was a bitterly disappointed man after seeing his side lose 18-3 to Ireland at Asbourne in a Six Nations clash.
Ireland led 5-3 at the break with Wales in a good position to continue their domination over the girls in green but missed tackles proved costly for the current Triple Crown champions.
“We were in control for the first 25 minutes of the first half but we then gave away a soft try before giving away a series of penalties late in the first half. We gave field possession away which handed momentum to them,” he said.
“In the second half Ireland came out and played a kicking game and pinned us back and we couldn’t get out of our own 22. To be fair we defended really well but we fell off a couple of tackles out wide and you could see Ireland grow in confidence.
“The bottom line is we weren’t good enough. We lost the contact area and lacked composure and we have to take a long look at ourselves. We aren’t doing the simple things well at the moment. We are not quite firing on all cylinders like we did last season.”
After away defeats to France and England, Kevin West’s Ireland Women had to come from behind to eventually take the honours.
Wales winger Non Evans knocked over a penalty in the fifth minute but the lead was short lived as Niamh Briggs stormed over in the 15th minute to grab the lead for Ireland.
The game could still have gone either way until the 57th minute when Tania Rosser eluded the stretched Welsh defence.
Briggs increased the lead in the 72nd minute with a well struck penalty with Joy Neville adding the final nail into Wales’s coffin with a try four minutes from the final whistle.
Wales will now be looking to finish their campaign on a winning note when they tackle Italy in the final game of their campaign next weekend at Bridgend.
