McWilliams: Everything that could go wrong went wrong

Ireland head coach Greg McWilliams said that "everything that could have gone wrong went wrong" in the first half of their 31-5 defeat to Wales in their Six Nations opener in Cardiff.

The hosts had effectively wrapped up the game by half-time, captain Hannah Jones running in for their fourth try shortly after the half hour mark to leave the scoreline at 26-0 at the break, Ireland already reduced to a hopeless cause.

The scrum, in particular, was a disastrous source of weakness for the visitors in the first half, the powerful Welsh pack asserting an astonishing level of superiority over the comparatively light Irish tight-five.

Reflecting afterwards, McWilliams, who assumed the role in late 2021 after the failure to qualify for last year's World Cup, admitted that the game highlighted how Ireland had lagged behind Wales in their development.

"I'm not going to pretend that we're not disappointed. We have to own that performance," McWilliams told reporters.

"We know where we are. Wales are a little bit further ahead of us. You can see that in their development.

"They overpowered us in the first half and we learned some really valuable lessons. Like anything, you've just got to learn the lessons, create a plan and make sure you aim to be better the next time you play."

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Asked to pinpoint the areas of weakness in the first half, McWilliams instanced the breakdown and the physical battle as areas where Ireland needed to improve.

He did, however, insist that Ireland were a