Simon Easterby makes feelings clear on Wales as Ireland's half-time message revealed
Ireland interim coach Simon Easterby has said he always knew Wales would give his side a tough match in their Six Nations encounter on Saturday and revealed the details of a chat he had with his players at half-time.
Easterby, who is taking the Irish reins for this year’s tournament as head coach Andy Farrell is on Lions duty, was speaking after his side came back from a losing position at half-time to beat Wales 27-18, securing a Triple Crown in the process and keeping alive hopes of a third consecutive championship win and a Grand Slam.
He said that in the run-up to the game some sections of the media overplayed how bad Wales currently are, and that he was never in doubt about the quality sprinkled throughout Matt Sherratt’s side.
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“I think there’s been some really poor media talk around Wales and the state of the game (in the country),” Easterby said after the game.
“We knew they would be a tough opposition. We knew they would play with that type of passion. You look at the tries they scored and the one Ellis Mee didn’t in the corner, they have the ability to play with ball in hand. They made it tough. We knew it would be tougher than some in the media suggested.”
Easterby added that he and his players spoke at half-time about trying to “dominate” Wales after the tournament favourites entered the changing room at the interval in an unfamiliar position - losing a Test match.
“We had a lot of possession and territory for 30 minutes, but we but didn’t get our accuracy right in scoring the points that we needed,” he said. “We came in at half-time and felt, if we played in the right way, we could dominate them.
"I’m pleased with the way we responded to being in a bit of a hole and digging ourselves out of it and taking the game away from them in the last 20. Getting this result in a different way to winning in Scotland and beating England at home means we keep building the experiences and keep driving the mentality to do things well.”
Easterby is one of the leading candidates to take the Wales reins full time following the departure of Warren Gatland last week.
"I've tried to focus on my job and what I can do best for the team," he said post-match when asked if speculation had infiltrated his preparation for the game.
"To be honest it hasn't been that much of a distraction. I think it's been outside noise that has gone on, outside my control. The most important thing is we came here today, we got a result and we move forward to France."
