Head coach Wayne Pivac read the riot act in the wake of the 42-12 reverse against the reigning champions Leinster and Owens revealed the players also had their own review session of the RDS horror show.
“We had a thorough review of last weekend’s game in training and asked ourselves and each other some hard questions. At time it was pretty brutal, but that’s what we need to move forward,” said Owens.
“We let the fans down and we let ourselves down and we need to show we are a better side than that this weekend when we play Treviso. We created scoring opportunities in Dublin, but we didn’t make the most of them. Individual errors cost us and, if we have an error rate like that against the top teams, that’s what happens.
“We made fundamental errors in our defence and in our tackling. Our system isn’t too bad and it wasn’t down to any major system errors, but more individual errors.
“It’s more about mind set than the defensive system. Wayne put it to us straight and the players have responded positively.
“They have accepted their errors, worked on them and looked to move on. Leinster are a good team and that’s why they have won the title two years on the bounce.
“What we now need is an error free performance against Treviso. That should be good enough to get us the points and that’s what we have been concentrating on this week.”
Pivac is giving Wales full back Liam Williams until Thursday to recover from the groin strain he picked up in the pre-match warm-up in Dublin on Saturday, but is confident he will be fit to start. The news on Regan King is not so encouraging and he could well sit out a second game this weekend.
