Ireland coach Joe Schmidt suffering after Six Nations defeat in Wales

Ireland coach Joe Schmidt admitted he will be suffering from some sleepless nights after Wales derailed his team's Grand Slam hopes in Cardiff on Saturday.

Scott Williams' second-half try stunned Ireland, who could find few routes through the resolute home defence despite dominating territory and possession after half-time.

The Irish did eventually claim a penalty try but were made to pay for a rudderless first 20 minutes and ultimately went down to a 23-16 defeat.

Schmidt's side can still retain their Six Nations Championship title, but must now rely on a points-difference triumph, just like last season.

I'll struggle to go to bed to be honest. I'll look at the game, I'll think about the what-ifs and the maybes, because I think there were a fair few what-ifs and maybes.

England went to the top of the table with a 25-13 victory over Scotland at Twickenham and all of the top three teams are locked on six points going into the final round.

Ireland must now see off Scotland in Edinburgh and hope to better England and Wales' points-difference tallies, with the English hosting France and the Welsh travelling to Italy on an all-important final Saturday.

"I'll struggle to go to bed to be honest," said Schmidt after the Millennium Stadium reverse. "I'll look at the game, I'll think about the what-ifs and the maybes, because I think there were a fair few what-ifs and maybes.

"I'll look at the last lineout drive, I'll look at the scrum, I'll look at the 22 and the pressure and how close we got to getting over the line, and the small margins and marginal gains that if you manage to do that then you potentially change the result.

"I felt at 20-16 that we were back in the game, we were inside a score away from them, and I felt we attacked pretty positively right from the restart, got up to halfway and then unfortunately gave them a penalty that allowed them to go further in front.

"That was really disappointing and further reflected our endeavour but not our accuracy and our performance."

Responsibility

Schmidt, meanwhile, admitted Ireland must shoulder the blame for failing to convert intense pressure into tries, and not question the performance of fastidious referee Wayne Barnes.

"No look we've got to take responsibility for what happens in our ruck and with our tempo and I think that's for other people to look at," said Schmidt of referee Barnes' approach.

"We've got to look at ourselves and there's got to be some credit given to the Welsh as well.

"I suppose it's a bit similar to last year now where we just knew we needed the result in Paris, and that's something we managed to do and win the championship on the back of it and England had to sit and watch.

"You've got to beat those teams first.

"I don't think in the championship you can afford to go anywhere and start chasing points.

"Scotland got very close to beating Wales, and Wales have just beaten us.

"But for a couple of decisions it could have changed things there with Scotland against Wales.

"Scotland are going to be very difficult to beat."