Joe Schmidt knows the title will come down to mathematics on Saturday but that will not change how his side approach their final match against Scotland at Murrayfield, a ground where they have been involved in close contests on their last four visits.
Ireland, in second, will start Saturday with a points difference of +33, by which time Wales (+12) will have played Italy in Rome. England (+37) will then play France at Twickenham in the final match of the competition.
“This is not a tournament where you can think about how many points you are going to beat an opponent by,” Schmidt said. “Scotland are a good side who only lost to Wales, a team that have just beaten us, after a few decisions went against them.
“The Six Nations is ending in the same way as last year when we played France in Paris knowing that we needed to win. We are disappointed it has come to this but we were beaten by a good Wales team in a game where we did not help ourselves.”
The head coach criticised his team’s start but also felt that Wayne Barnes, the English referee, did not treat both sides the same. Schmidt said: “We lost the first four balls in the air and found ourselves chasing the game. We were victims of some stringent refereeing at the breakdown after Wales started strongly in terms of possession and territory, but when we did the same at the beginning of the second half, he [Barnes] did not quite respond like that.
“It is not a case of going back to the drawing board. The result would have been different had we taken a few opportunities. We did a lot of good things and we could have had a draw at the end. It makes it tough for us, but we are still in there.”
Sam Warburton, leading Wales for a record 34th Test, said it was one of the most gruelling matches he had ever played in and one of the most fulfilling. The second-row Luke Charteris made 37 tackles, one short of Thierry Dusautoir’s world record, with Warburton on 30 having spent 10 minutes in the sin-bin.
“We were out of our feet at the end and when the final whistle went, I pumped my fist into the air,” said Warburton. “We are still in the title hunt after coming back from an opening day defeat and this win was, for me, as satisfying as the 2011 World Cup quarter-final victory over Ireland, the 2013 win over England and our success over South Africa last November.”
The victory came at a cost for Wales. They lost both their props, Samson Lee to a suspected ruptured achilles tendon that may prompt a phone call from the management to Adam Jones and Gethin Jenkins to calf and hamstring strains, and the hooker Richard Hibbard suffered a blow to the head and Jamie Roberts had an arm problem.
“We will not be taking Italy lightly,” said Warren Gatland., the Wales head coach.“We always get better the longer we are together and what we have to do in Rome is put pressure on the other teams chasing the title who play after us. Our win over Ireland was good for the competition.”
