After a dogged defensive display against the Canadians in the pool stage – they went down fighting in a 15-0 loss in Dublin – Wales were unable to contain the North Americans yesterday in Belfast, losing 52-0.
“We never got any foothold in this second game,” remarked Phillips. “We knew they were going to come at us hard, because they did that last time. We also knew they were going to be very direct.
“We didn’t have that same intensity in our hits, and they definitely ran harder, so we lost the collision – whereas in the last game we were probably even in that regard. This was also evident when we were taking the ball into contact. We didn’t manage to put a dent in their defensive line like we did a week or so ago.”
Wales will now challenge for a seventh-place spot with hosts Ireland at the Kingspan Stadium on Saturday. A week is a long time in rugby, says Phillips, and just as Canada bounced back yesterday from a heavy defeat to New Zealand, he’s hoping for a similar reaction against the tournament hosts.
Phillips believes it’s important not to shy away from the disappointment of yesterday’s loss, just so long as his players are then able to re-focus. “We have to lick our wounds, learn our lessons and move on very quickly,” he says. “We all share this huge frustration around that performance, but the crucial thing now is that we learn our lessons and quickly shift our mindset towards Ireland.”
First Wales will have to recover and rest, with “a lot of battered bodies” after the collision-heavy contest at Queen’s University. Injuries will play a factor in determining selection for Saturday, but Phillips is more than prepared to roll with the punches.
“We’re clear where we want to take this team,” Phillips says. “There’s a lot of work to be done, and we knew that anyway. We’ve said it from the beginning, and we’ve just got to get on with it.”
Ireland, who suffered defeat to the Wallaroos yesterday, will be hurting just as much as Wales, which could make for a fierce clash of the Celts. “We know lot about Ireland. They’re a very good side, they did well in the Six Nations and they’ll be in front of their home crowd,” he says. “We’ve just got to pick ourselves up. With this kind of tournament, there’s no time to drag your feet and be upset, because before you know it the game will be upon us.
“The beauty of a tournament like this is that focus has to change quickly, and that will definitely be the theme over the next couple of days. Most of these things are fixable. If we’re losing physicality, like we did yesterday, we need to regain confidence from our performances against New Zealand and Canada in the pool stage, where we physically went toe-to-toe with them. This is where we need to be.
“This final game will still give us the opportunity to improve on previous World Cups, which would be an indication of progress. We all need to get excited about this.”
