Wales biannual implosion in Dublin happened again this weekend. It seems that we sold our souls to the devil in regards to securing a win at the Aviva stadium, for our win in 2012, which had some controversial decisions by the officials in the dying stages.

Ireland, played the tricky conditons well, storm Ciara was at its strongest on Sunday, when a lot of returning supporters travel plans were disrupted. But, it still caused strong winds which negated Wales usual kicking tactics. So often have we seemed to turn up in Dublin slightly undercooked, whilst Ireland who are usually smarting from defeat in Cardiff the previous year, hit their straps early. Wales first exit was extremely poor, allowing Jordon Larmour to return a kick to the centre of the field and Ireland attacked wide, to negate our narrow defence.

I am not going to give a blow by blow account of the game, the bones have been picked by many a journalist since the final whistle. But I do intend to give and overview of proceedings and offer my thoughts of what can change or encourage supporters.

I felt that Ireland got away with a hell of a lot of nonsense at the breakdown, Romain Poite the referee is notorious for taking a laissez-faire approach to the contest for the ball. Ireland slowed every ruck down, by either contesting for the ball after Poite had called no hands, or failing to roll away until after the second warning from the Frenchman. This allowed Ireland to set their defensive line and stopped Wales from building any momentum or major territory. On the other hand, Ireland smashed Wales away from the ball and rolled down the pitch quickly. CJ Stander had his best game for a long time and seemed to be back to his imposing best. Wales meanwhile appeared to be still familiarising themselves with Byron Haywards new system in defense and appeared to be slightly confused with what they were supposed to be doing.

Wales also made a lot to errors, which put them under immense pressure namely the knock on from Tomos Williams when he was attempting a box kick within his own 5 metre line, this led to Tadhg Furlong crossing. In the second half it was the otherwise quiet George North who knocked on, which again led to Ireland crossing the whitewash. Wales scored a good try, from Dan Biggars adventurous play and Alun Wyn Jones offload to back to Biggar who then offloaded to the supporting Williams. But the Williams knock on occured shortly afterwards and led to Ireland regaining the lead, which they did not relinquish.

Hadleigh Parkes, who had a very good game when tasked with breaking down t green wall which was the Irish defence, was unlucky in just failing to ground the ball when the score was 19-7 after 55 minutes. If this score was successful I feel that Wales would have backed themselves in the arm wrestle. But the score was ruled out as Parkes just failed to ground the ball, Ireland took advantage of this and battled their way to dominance. Wales were chasing the game and turned down some kickable points, which I feel was the correct decision considering the weather and the amount of pressure Wales were exerting on the home team. Could Poite have been more proactive in policing the breakdown more efficiently? Most definitely I felt that Ireland knew they weren’t going to be punished after two warnings, and this was correct until the 78th minute when stander was yellow carded for killing the ball, Stander gave away three times more penalties than anyone else on the field, which illustrates how much he was pushing the boundaries of the laws of the game all day. Subsequently Wales then Scored a consolation try through Justin Tipuric, when the point of contact in the driving maul was changed and Tipuric drove over the line. Ireland were the deserved victors, in a game that some refereeing decisions could have made closer, I felt that this type of performance was always going to happen this year, in Pivacs first six nations. In truth we can only learn from these performances.

What next? Well the fallow week is on the horizon, where some players will return to their clubs and others will rest their weary bodies. Owen Watkin is expected to be in contention for the France game and could be named in the starting line up. Wales will want some of the fringe players to get some minutes to enable them to return to camp fresh.

Josh Adams is the main injury concern as he left the contest after 25 minutes on Saturday, he has been in white hot form and has been playing like the best wing in the world for the last 12 months. He has some time recover, without him Wales had no joy out wide, his replacement Johnny Mcnicholl was well marshalled by Andrew Conway and the Munster flyer squeezed past the Scarlets wing in the second half. Wales need Adams, due to the xfactor he provides. Liam Williams is still recovering from his ankle injury, which ended his world cup. George North’s only contribution of note in attack was the knock on from a Gareth Davies pass, which gave Ireland possession in our 22. Now does not seem to be the time to bring in Gloucester win Louis Rees Zammit, I imagine we will see a back three of Halfpenny, McNicholl and North against France if Adams is unavailable.

Nick Tompkins had a tough day at the office, I would start him at 13 again as he has had experience of lining up opposite Vakatawa who is set to wear the 13 shirt for France.

‘ The fallow week, will allow Pivac and Byron Hayward to work with the squad and introduce the gameplan they want, which should see some improvement against France…… Although this is a gradual process and they won’t be able to work miracles in one week’.

Harlequins Hooker Scott Baldwin advises of what the coaches will be aiming for in the week off before the France game.

It’s already been a long season for the players who featured in the world cup, for players like Wyn Jones and Aaron Wainwright there has been more pressure put on them, due to the extra attention their fantastic performances at the World Cup have garnered. This has led to Wales relying on their talisman Alun Wyn Jones and his Ospreys team mate Justin Tipuric, some have warned of this reliance as Ireland managed to negate the performances of these players to secure the win.

‘ There is an increasing reliance that Alun Wyn Jones and Justin Tipuric will produce a monumental performance… there will be some questions asked about the performances of some players who were anonymous throughout the game…. The question has to be asked, is George North worth his place in the team?’

Journalist Peter Jackson warns of Wales picking players who are out of form when speaking to scrum v on Sunday.

I think the negative online reaction to this performance is way over the top. Dublin is a notoriously difficult place to visit, espeically when a storm is raging on match day. It has been irritating to read that people want to drop Dillon Lewis, who has to play as often as possible for his scrummaging to reach the level it can, his all around play is superior to any other tight head in the group, he is another scavenger at the breakdown and I feel he is the long term future at 3 for Wales. I would bring in Moriarty at blindside against France, he has been forceful off the bench against Italy and France, this would also allow Wainwright to come off the bench and add another dimension to the team against a hopefully tired French pack. I would like to see a fit Cory Hill in the 23, he brings the best out of Alun Wyn and is an underrated ball carrier.

Wales have to take the rough with the smooth this season, any team will experience growing pains in the first season of a new coaches tenure, let alone after a hugely successful 12 years with its last coach. The shoots of hope are there, as Pivac tries to introduce a more attacking gameplan. France at home will be tough , but this has been a fixture where Wales have corrected previous disappointments in the past. There is a long term goal of developing the next generation of players, who will look to challenge for the 2023 World Cup. The set piece will improve with time and players like Taulupe Faletau will hit their top form as the games go by. Sam Warburton will want to look at the contact area and identify ways to negate similar tactics to Ireland, to enable the team to provide quick ball for their attack. Let’s not panic just yet.