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Warburton seeks Six Nations response

10th March 2017


Sam Warburton insists Wales will bounce back in their Six Nations showdown with Ireland at the Principality Stadium tonight.

Following back-to-back defeats to England and most recently Scotland, Rob Howley’s side are determined to turn their campaign around.

They face an Ireland side that has to triumph in Cardiff to keep their Championship hopes alive and following two disappointing rounds, Warburton is confident his side will rise to the occasion.

Warburton said: “We’ve seen it in the past where we have let ourselves down, gone back out the week after and produced a positive reaction. I’m sure the coaches and players are expecting that to happen again.

“We have points to prove. The second-half performance against Scotland wasn’t up to scratch. A few guys have been given a second chance. There are quite a few things to put right there, as a team we have got the opportunity to do that.

 “When we actually look at the games, if we were getting completely outplayed I’d be a little bit worried. But when we look back, and the players have spoken about it, it’s been individual errors that have let us down in certain moments of matches.

 “Not incidents that have let in a try necessarily. We go back before that and it might be a vital set piece that went wrong, a penalty turnover that put us in a position where we shouldn’t have been in the first place.

“We’re talking about the last 15 minutes against England and perhaps the first 15 minutes of the second-half versus Scotland. They are easy fixes and we’re hoping this weekend we’ll be a lot more disciplined, which will hopefully help us through.

 “We’ve been playing together for years, know each other very well and are ready for the big tussle.

“We’re aware people paid a lot of money to come and watch us play against England. The support was fantastic, so we want to give them a good win to cheer about this time. We feel we owe that as a group of players.”

Following two defeats, Wales are also in a battle to remain inside the top tier of World Rugby’s rankings to ensure a more favourable World Cup draw.