Six Nations: Jake Ball reveals Wales disappointment at second-half display against England

Jake Ball feels Wales let themselves down in the second half of their opening Six Nations clash with England on Friday.

Warren Gatland's side failed to match the spirit and endeavour they showed in the opening 15 minutes at the Millennium Stadium, failing to score a point as a 16-8 half-time lead turned into a 21-16 England victory.

"We were unable to play at the pace that we wanted to and you can't win games without the ball," Scarlets lock Ball said.

"I wouldn't say they (England) surprised us, not at all. The game was there to be won and we showed that in the first half, but let ourselves down in the second half.

"We will look back and be very frustrated. There was a game there that should have been won, but we let it go in the second half."

Bigger and stronger

Ball expects Wales to rebound quickly from their poor start, and their next game comes against a Scotland team they have not lost to in seven games since Gatland took over as coach in 2007.

"We can definitely build ourselves up for Murrayfield," Ball added. "We will go away, work hard and come back a bigger and stronger team for next week.

"I think there were a lot of positives to come from the first half (against England). It's just a case of keeping that intensity for 80 minutes.

"Maybe we let ourselves down at the breakdown a bit in the second half, so that is an area where we need to keep the intensity as well. There were a couple of errors at the set-piece, but nothing we can't sort out for next week.

"I would say that intensity over 80 minutes was the big thing against England. We showed that intensity over 40 minutes and we needed to show it for another 40 minutes, but we didn't quite do that."