Gatland proud of beaten Wales

New Zealand forced to dig deep for third leg of grand slam tour

Last updated: 23rd November 2008   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Gatland proud of beaten Wales

Gatland: learning process

We wanted to show it was our stadium, our pitch and our fans.

Ryan Jones
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Wales coach Warren Gatland declared himself proud of his side's display during the 29-9 defeat to New Zealand on Saturday.

Gatland's men produced a fine first-half display to reach the interval with a thoroughly deserved 9-6 lead, courtesy of three Stephen Jones penalties.

But New Zealand stormed back in the second half with 23 unanswered points - including tries for Ma'a Nonu and Jerome Kaino - to keep alive their hopes of a grand slam tour.

"For 40 minutes I was pretty happy," said Gatland.

"But New Zealand were able to keep the intensity for the whole 80 minutes.

"We brought the best out of the All Blacks which is what we wanted to do.

Pleased

"They are clearly the best side in the world and I'm pleased that we showed out there that if we can do it for longer periods we are not too far away.

"We will take a lot of learning from that.

"We are really proud of the first 40 minutes but we couldn't keep it up for the full 80 minutes

"We've had South Africa last week, New Zealand today and Australia next week.

"You only get better by playing the best teams. We need to improve in terms of the penalties we were giving away and some of the set-pieces.

"If we learn from the sort of things the All Blacks do we are going to improve.

Pressure

"When we kept the ball in the first half and played with that tempo and intensity we showed what a good side we were and we showed that we could put them under pressure. What we can't do at the moment is put them under pressure for 80 minutes.

"We had a share of possession and territory in the first half but that dropped away in the second half."

On Wales standing their ground when New Zealand did the Haka captain Ryan Jones said: "We wanted to show it was our stadium, our pitch and our fans.

"We were confident going into the game. We had huge belief in the heart and the soul of this team and the individuals who wore the jersey.

"It is a pretty disappointed changing room. If we can polish up a few things we will get closer and closer."