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Irish pundit slams Wales’ Ioan Lloyd for not being ‘up to it’ after England defeat

Ioan Lloyd of Wales in action during the Guinness Six Nations 2024 match between Wales and Scotland at Principality Stadium on February 03, 2024 in Cardiff, Wales. (Photo by Warren Little/Getty Images)

Former Ireland international Hannah Tyrrell believes Wales need to make an urgent change at flyhalf after Warren Gatland’s men were unable to hang on for what would’ve been a famous win at Twickenham in the Six Nations.

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At just 22 years of age, Ioan Lloyd was the man wearing Wales’ No. 10 jersey as the visitors looked to beat England at the famed rugby venue for just the fourth time since 1988.

Wales struck first as referee James Doleman awarded a penalty try in the 17th minute on the back of the forwards’ tidy work at the set-piece. The decision also saw England go down to 13 men as Ethan Roots joined Ollie Cheesum in the sin bin.

The visitors wouldn’t score for about 20 minutes, though, until halfback Tomos Williams created something special out of nothing by linking up with flanker Alex Mann for a sensational try.

But that was it for Wales. England kept their traditional rugby rivals scoreless for the entire second half, and that came back to haunt the Welsh in the end.

Playmaker George Ford kicked a penalty in the 71st minute to give the hosts the lead for the first time in the Test. It proved to be the match-winning score, too, as they won 16-14.

Following Wales’ second loss in as many Six Nations matches in 2024, Irish rugby pundit Hannah Tyrell has called out flyhalf Ioan Lloyd for not being “up to it” at international level.

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“At times they gave us glimpses of some really nice, free-flowing rugby,” Tyrrell said on an RTE Rugby panel post-game. “We saw that wonderful try… exploiting that weakness in the English defence.

“Other than that, particularly their attack looked deficit or devoid of any sort of imagination about how they’re going to suffocate that English defence.

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“Unfortunately for Lloyd at 10, he just doesn’t seem to be up to it and didn’t really know what to do other than kick it up in the air to their (England’s) strength in Freddie Steward or try those crossfield kicks… they just weren’t working out for him.

“For Wales to do well I think they need someone else to step in there at 10 but I don’t really know who to be honest because (Sam) Costelow’s not up to it either.”

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It was a thrilling match in the end with both teams putting themselves in at least a mathematical position to win the clash at the death, But whether it was a good game is still up for debate.

Former Ireland and British & Irish Lions backrower Stephen Ferris unleashed a blunt summary of what he thought of the match post-game.

“It was such a low-quality game in terms of the skillset on show, the attacking ability from both sides,” Ferris said on the same panel as Tyrrell.

“We’re talking about Freddie Steward, well we certainly were here in the studio, about getting player of the match just because he was taking high balls all afternoon. Tommy Reffell, as well, brilliant around the breakdown.

“But not that much ball carrying and getting in behind each other’s defences. For me, it was a low-quality game.”

It doesn’t get any easier for Wales, either. Next up for Cymru is a trip to Dublin where they’ll face Six Nations favourites Ireland on February 24.

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Comments

14 Comments
R
Ross 285 days ago

Make sure you say “Irish” pundit in there. I am sure if it been a pundit from any other country it would have been just “Pundit slams Wales…”.

A
Ace 285 days ago

So what should Gatland do, Hannah? Pull a flyhalf out of his *ss? What a stupid comment.

R
Robert 285 days ago

Irish has beens all over
Load of rubbish

T
Turlough 285 days ago

Is this new policy of Rugby Pass writing full articles covering Irish TV pundits covering the six nations matches going to continue indefinitely?
The good thing about Irish pundits is they say what they believe to be true and don’t walk on egg shells. Perhaps, if the RugbyPass people just left the content to people actually watching that coverage rather than creating click bait articles over it?

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Hellhound 30 minutes ago
France put World Cup pain behind them with unbeaten run in November

France is starting to look like they are finally over their WC headache, although they were lucky that NZ had a very bad game. The Argies as usual is one game good, the next bad. If they can sort that out and be more consistent, they could become contenders for the WC.


NZ, Argentina (if they are more consistent), and now the Wallabies too is in an upward curve (can they be consistent?), as well as Fiji(as inconsistent as Argentina) looks like possible contenders. The Boks will be as usual a huge threat to defend their title. Things are looking up for the South, so the North should rightfully beware of the Southern Hemisphere threat.


With the French looking dangerous, the English with their close runs (mostly a mindset problem) and the Scottish seems to be the NH main contenders. The Irish is good, but not excellent anymore. They are more overbearing and with their glory days mostly gone with old players hanging on by a thread, by 2027 if they don't start adding in the younger players, they won't make it past yet another WC Quarter final. The problem is that their youngsters, while good is nothing special.


That is just 8 teams without the Irish that can become real WC contenders. Lots of hickups to be sorted still for these teams, excluding the Boks to become a threat. Make no mistake, the top Tier is much closer than people realise and the 2027 WC will be a really great WC, possibly the best contended WC ever.

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