Webb hails Welsh fans

Editor

Wales scrum-half Rhys Webb hailed his team-mates for a gritty display as Wales toppled Ireland 22-9 in a thrilling Six Nations battle.

The Ospreys scrum-half put in a man-of-the-match display to inspire Wales to victory and he was left delighted after the bruising tussle.

“It’s been an emotional two weeks because in the first three games we felt we were dominant and we only had one result come our way,” Webb told the Wales website.

“But we knew as a squad that we were fine margins away from a good performance. We’re not half as bad a team as everyone thinks we are.

“We’re not going to get too carried away on this victory. We knew from the last two weeks that we needed to play the full 80 minutes.”

Webb was full of praise for the 74,500-strong support inside Principality Stadium as George North’s two tries and a late Jamie Roberts effort gave Wales victory.

“We definitely owed the fans a win,” he said.

“We have to hand huge credit to the support we had on Friday night – it was unbelievable. It’s not a relief because we knew as a team that we were fine margins away.”

Webb revealed that defence coach Shaun Edwards had a rare smile after the hard-fought triumph.

He joked: “Shaun had a little smile, but we all know the campaign is not over yet. We want to finish on a positive note, so hopefully we’ll see a lot more smiles from him.”

Wales take on France in the final round of this year’s Six Nations, but Webb remains wary of the threat posed by Le Bleus after they hammered Italy.

“They are one of the best attacking teams,” he said.

“You never know what they’re going to bring. They’ve got a strong pack and lethal backs.

“We need to be aware of that, they are our only focus now.”