Gatland saving the eulogies for next time

Relieved but happy, Ireland coach Warren Gatland was preparing to enjoy the victory that he and his players coveted and for a large part of Saturday's international against Wales thoroughly merited.

"At 26-6 I was feeling quite happy, but at 26-23 I could see France all over again: the 79th-minute, Wales scoring a try. I went through all the emotions you go through in a rugby match in the space of 80 minutes. It was a feeling of relief more than anything at the end. I don't think that we played as well as we did against France," he said after the match.

"That 20 minutes in the second half we did panic with the ball and probably kicked a bit too much away when I would have been more comfortable keeping the ball, keeping possession. But the team deserved a victory, we've been working very hard." Gatland's candour in assessing Saturday's performance augurs well for the England match.

There was no eulogising, just an acknowledgment of a job well done for most of Saturday's international. And Gatland's appraisal of the 20 minutes that almost cost Ireland dear was forthright and honest. "We got a bit nervous when we went in front by that margin and just from talking to the players in the changing room, they just relaxed a bit and thought it was all over rather than pressing home the advantage.

"If you look at some of the top sides in the world, there at 26-6, they would put sides away, but we tended to panic a little bit. Hopefully when we get in that situation again we will have learnt well from today." The Irish coach prefers not to single out individuals, but when asked about David Humphreys's contribution, Gatland was happy to respond. "After the criticism he had it's nice for him to come out on top, to play the game that he played. I think from David's point of view, even after the European Cup final, it took him 30 minutes of the French game to come to terms with the pace.

"He said that the pace of the Five Nations compared to the European final is on another planet. He was just a bit nervous and a bit tentative in the French game and I thought today that some of his tactical kicking was very good: one or two mistakes that he will work on, but I was very pleased with his general performance."

The appealing prospect of England arriving in Lansdowne Road with a degree of trepidation will appeal to all Irish rugby followers and Gatland was not about to play the fawning host. "I don't think too many people would like to come to Lansdowne Road at the moment. We're really looking forward to that game.

"Basically it's winner takes all. If we can win the match then it sets up an opportunity to play Scotland for the Triple Crown and England are in the same boat. It's an important occasion and a very important match for both teams." The plaudits in victory were largely reserved for the Irish pack. "I thought our general defence, particularly in the first half, was very good. We have been looking to put sides under pressure with an aggressive defence. We forced Wales into some unforced errors and turnovers. It's something we worked very hard on and it was very pleasing. I thought our lineout was good and 90 per cent of our scrumagging was strong." The other major plus was Irish discipline in the face of serious and prolonged provocation. It is a problem that Gatland addressed after the French match and his words have obviously been heeded by the players.

"We had spoken to the players very strongly about this after the French game in terms of keeping our discipline. Peter Clohessy did say to me after the game `I took a punch for you today and it hurt.' We told our players to be strong and disciplined and not to retaliate."

Reading a short prepared statement, Welsh team manager David Pickering was in sombre mood. "The first thing that we would like to do is praise the Irish for a tremendous performance. They played with great control and indeed great passion and we congratulate them on their victory.

"We ourselves have a lot of young players and we struggled to get perhaps the consistency and fluency that we required. . . We in Wales however have a clear vision of how we want to play and I think perhaps you have seen some of that in the second-half performance which was 100 per cent better than the first."