Thomas - Time to turn it on

Flanker upbeat for Dublin showdown

Last updated: 11th March 2010   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Thomas - Time to turn it on

Thomas: Dublin chance

We know we are under-achieving. We are better than the table shows, and we should have beaten France and England.

Jonathan Thomas
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Jonathan Thomas admits Wales' trip to play Ireland in Dublin on Saturday is a salvage mission after an "incredibly frustrating" RBS Six Nations campaign.

If Wales wreck Ireland's Triple Crown ambitions at Croke Park, they will have a fighting chance of finishing second in this season's tournament.

Lose to the reigning Six Nations champions though, and Wales will find themselves in the wooden spoon mix when Italy visit Cardiff in the final round.

And those possible scenarios with two games left accurately reflect Wales' rollercoaster Six Nations.

After trailing England 20-3 and title favourites France 20-0, Wales threatened spectacular fightbacks in both Tests before ultimately falling short, although they did stage a blockbusting late show to beat Scotland.

"International rugby is about winning," said Ospreys flanker Thomas, who wins his 54th cap in a Wales back-row shorn of injured skipper Ryan Jones.

"We know we are under-achieving. We are better than the table shows, and we should have beaten France and England.

"It is up to us to sort it out. It is easier to take when you lose to a side that is better than you.

"It has been incredibly frustrating because we could have won the first three games.

Smarter

"We know we can turn it on and play good rugby against any side in the world. If we play a bit smarter, we will be in charge of our own destiny.

"We are not far away from being a top team.

"France had a great defensive record and they are an incredibly physical side who smashed Ireland at home, but we ran them ragged in the second-half and they were physically gone.

"To do that to a side of their renown says something. We can take a lot from that, and it was the same with Scotland.

"A lot has been made about how we start games, but the important thing for us is that we are not far away. To see what we are doing to sides shows we are going in the right direction.

"We need to concentrate more at the start and not give ourselves such a mountain to climb."