Henry maintains the brave face

The image of Graham Henry walking in waving a white handkerchief failed to materialise. If the Welsh coach is coming under pressure to hand over his £250,000 job, he didn't show it. Toughing it out in his abrasive Kiwi style, Henry pointed to the positives on the Welsh side and the brilliance of Ireland.

There was more than one suppressed groan from the Welsh writers, who have been after the Kiwi coach's head for some time.

"We've no excuses, we just thought that they (Ireland) were outstanding," said Henry. "Sure we were disappointed with the way we played. We didn't play well with the ball or without it. We had some difficult periods early in the game, gave a lot of penalties away, which is a frustration that we need to look at.

"Well done to the Irish, they played superbly. We need to band together now and look to the next one."

Henry reacted to the idea he was under pressure with a shrug. "I understand that if you're coaching international rugby you are going to get pressure. That's natural. Nothing has changed there.

"All we can do as coaches is keep working at it and keep doing it to the best of our ability. I'm sure that's what we will now do and so will the players.

"I think you can say the Irish were superb. I haven't seen them play like that before. They played with a lot of confidence, took the game too us, came out with a very positive attitude to run the ball, play the ball."

In truth, those who arrived to provide answers for the record defeat - Henry, captain Scott Quinnell, scrumhalf Rob Howley and assistant coach Steve Hanson - looked more like a lugubrious police line-up. Downtrodden and somewhat uncomprehending, the professional shutters came down.

"They made us make mistakes," offered the captain. "We know we didn't play to the best of our ability but I believe we have more to offer."

The big number eight then moved into psycho-babble. It didn't suit his usual enforcer's role.

"If we just talk about the negatives then the match in two weeks' time looks very daunting. We need to build on the positives. We can't forget about today but we need to build on it."

Howley, barely audible, seemed in deep dismay.Fifty five times he has played in the Welsh jersey and never before has he been so comprehensively beaten by Ireland.

"To be honest Ireland were awesome. They continued where Munster and Leinster left off. We didn't get our game going. We didn't have the breaks. Hopefully we can be a better side in two weeks."

Hanson saw the Welsh basics as being the key factor, a part of the game someone suggested is normally sorted out at school level rugby, not in a test match.

"That's not what I mean by basics. The game is a very basic game," he said. "If you cannot do those things well . . . You've got to sort them out. You can't walk before you crawl, you can't run before you walk."

We left wondering how Welsh rugby had fallen to the point where they look forward to getting up on their hind legs. There was no quiet gloating, just a reflective concern at how far a great rugby nation can fall.