Ireland lock Quinn Roux believes his side will need to learn from their mistakes in their Autumn Nations Cup opener against Wales ahead of their Round 2 clash with England this weekend.
Roux – a late call-up to the starting XV when Iain Henderson went down with an injury on the day of the game – was among the tries as the men in green ran out comfortable winners at the Aviva Stadium on Friday night, seeing off Wayne Pivac’s troops 32-9 in Dublin.
That win sets up a mouth-watering clash with Eddie Jones’ side this weekend, as Ireland travel to Twickenham looking to get one over on the recently crowned Guinness Six Nations champions, with the winner on course to top Group A.
And Roux knows his teammates will have to be more disciplined when they travel to London, after giving away 13 penalties and conceding just as many turnovers against Wales.
“I’m happy with the performance, I thought the set piece went really well, that was our plan for the week and I thought we delivered quite well on that, I’m just delighted to get the win,” the lock said.
“Up front they were really physical and they came really hard at the breakdown, we conceded a few penalties there, we’ll have to work on that.
“I thought we fronted up really well as a pack, but we’ll need to get better for next week because the challenge will be a bit bigger.”
In a match that was laden with penalties for both sides, it was Roux that notched the first try of the game in Dublin, crossing just after the midway point of the first half.
The 30-year-old’s initiative caught the Wales defence unaware, as he bundled over after a concerted spell of pressure on the visitors’ try line, and put his side into the ascendancy.
Johnny Sexton, Billy Burns and Conor Murray then shared the kicking duties to put the game to bed, before debutant James Lowe rounded off the scoring with a try in the dying seconds.
It marked the perfect response for Andy Farrell’s side, who would still have been hurting from missing out on Guinness Six Nations glory just a fortnight before, and have their eyes on claiming the inaugural Autumn Nations Cup.
Roux was left beaming after a solid team and personal performance in Dublin, leaving the lock champing at the bit to do it all again this weekend.
“I thought I did quite well, scrums went really well and I thought our defensive lineout was good, I’m pretty happy with my performance and looking forward to going again,” the Connacht man said.
“It’s always good to score a try, it doesn’t happen very often so we’ll take that every time.”
