'Poor discipline and soft penalties cost us the game against Ireland' - Warren Gatland
Warren Gatland's Wales return started with a defeat
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Wales head coach Warren Gatland rued his side's poor discipline as they succumbed to a 10-34 defeat against Ireland in the Six Nations opener at Principality Stadium on Saturday.
This was also the first time Wales lost a game to Ireland in 10 years.
Caelan Doris, James Ryan and James Lowe scored tries in the opening half while Josh van der Flier touched down after the break as Ireland registered their biggest win over Wales in Cardiff since 2001.
"The discipline and soft penalties cost us," Gatland said.
"I think there were about 16 penalties (in total), which just isn't good enough. You need to get that down to under 10 in international rugby."
Wales conceded 27 points in the opening half hour of the game after which they did not recover. Even though Rio Dyer, Joe Hawkins and Jac Morgan showed better intent all they managed was a try from Liam Williams in the 46th minute while Dan Biggar slotted a conversion and a penalty apiece.
"We created a number of chances but we weren't clinical enough to finish them.
"There were definitely some good moments. We made some nice breaks and I thought we had some really good momentum in the (Ireland) 22, but just didn't come away with those points.
"At the end of the game, I said in my head that I actually wasn't that disappointed with our performance. In the past, we've been able to work hard and fix things."
Wales will now face Scotland in the second round of the tournament at Murrayfield Stadium on 11th February.
