Ireland's Bundee Aki said that the side’s ill-discipline against Wales was a key area that required improvement despite their comprehensive 31-7 Six Nations victory.
Andy Farrell’s side wrapped up a bonus-point win in the final moments, but the visitors were dogged throughout, particularly in the third quarter when Ireland conceded a penalty try and saw Tadhg Beirne sent to the sin bin.
For Aki, who had a second-half try ruled out due to a Robbie Henshaw knock-on in the build-up, the points were welcome but the performance still required plenty of fine-tuning.
"It wasn’t the greatest performance from us, we were ill-disciplined and that was big ups to Wales. They played incredibly well," he told RTÉ Sport.
"We are not a finished product yet and we’re going to keep improving and we’ve got another week to try and get ourselves together."
"It wasn't the greatest performance from us. We were ill-disciplined"
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) February 24, 2024
Ireland's Player of the Match Bundee Aki reacts to the 31-7 win over Wales #IREvWAL #SixNations
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"You’ve got to give it to them, they’re building something special. You can see it out there today," he added of the performance of Warren Gatland’s charges.
"They put us under the pump there at the beginning of the first half, and especially at the beginning of the second half.
"We’ve got to dust ourselves off and make sure we get better."
Aki, as often the case, set the tone in the first half with a fine steal and some great carries. He directed his praise to his team-mates though when asked about another fine performance.
"All the lads are making it easy for me, I’m just getting the little plays at the end.
"Pretty unfortunate I didn’t get the try but sure look, as long as we got the bonus point win and we have a lot more to improve on."
In the build-up to the game, Irish captain Peter O’Mahony has raged against the idea the fixture was a question of how much the home side would win by as they continued their Grand Slam charge.
Afterwards, he highlighted Wales’ dogged refusal to roll over when it looked like an Irish hammering could be on the cards, while also admitting his team will be poring over certain aspects of the display that dipped in the second period.
"I’m never going to stand to turn my nose up at five points in a competition like this, you know what I mean?" he said.
Captain Peter O'Mahony feels Wales deserve plenty of credit for the way in which they stymied his side at times during the second half of Ireland's 31-7 win #SixNations #IREvWAL
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) February 24, 2024
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"The Welsh team are a young team, hungry to impress and improve all the time. I thought they defended really well.
"Some of the discipline first ten minutes of the second half, we’re disappointed with. Some of the penalties we conceded are something we want to get stuck into but overall, five points, happy days.
"You’re always chasing an immaculate performance, but we know we’re not going to get there every time. Whether we win by two points or 20 points, we’ve always stuff to do, we can always get better and improve. That’s always the way with the boys."
