Wales Head Coach Warren Gatland during the international match against Ireland at The Principality Stadium, Cardiff, Wales, Saturday Aug. 31, 2019. (Adam Davy/PA via AP)
Warren Gatland could not sign off with a victory in his final home match in Cardiff, but insisted that Wales will head out to the Rugby World Cup in Japan as the best squad of his 12-year tenure with designs on the knockout stages.
In his pre-match interview with broadcasters
Channel 4, Gatland admitted to becoming overcome with emotion at the team hotel prior before making the short journey to the Principality Stadium. He saluted an "incredible ride and incredible journey with players and management", also paying tribute to the country of Wales.
However, Ireland, and particularly their powerful pack, were in no mood for charity. A flurry of scrum penalties helped carve out a 22-3 lead for the visitors close to the hour-mark with a revitalised Jacob Stockdale scoring a pair of opportunistic tries, the second coming after Aaron Shingler's errant offload went to ground.
Ireland had added a penalty try as another Wales set piece disintegrated, and Gatland promised to pay close attention to the scrum in his review. Without hiding his disappointment, he labelled the afternoon as a "good exercise" ahead of retiring to finalise his 31-man group for Japan, which will be announced on Sunday afternoon.
"I'm happy with a lot that we got out of today," he said. "This group of players never give up. We were creators of our own downfall at times."
