Dragons RFC wing Rio Dyer has urged Wales to keep playing and expressing themselves when they face England at Twickenham in Round 2 of the Guinness Six Nations.
Dyer was one of Wales four try scorers as they picked up two points from a narrow 27-26 defeat to Scotland at Principality Stadium – his fifth Test try in 15 internationals.
“It was a bit frustrating in the first half because I wasn’t really touching the ball. We were kicking it a bit too much,” said Dyer.
“It showed in the second half that when we do start chucking it about and playing that we can perform. We were in our shell in the first half – we were hitting up and were put on the back foot.
“Warren Gatland was emphasising the fact we needed to play some rugby. We were under the pump and had nothing to lose, so we went out to try and show what we could do.
“Warren was soft spoken at half-time, he wasn’t shouting to try to get his point across. It was an onus on ourselves, more than Gats having to put his foot down,” added Dyer.
“Dafydd Jenkins brought the boys together and just said we can’t be putting out performances like that one in the first half. We stuck together and it was great to see boys coming back.
“We’re a young squad and we’ve only been together for two weeks. We are getting used to each other, but we showed what we can do in the second half.
“Now we’ve got to stick to it. We can be much better, and you saw in the second half how we can play.
“The first half wasn’t good enough, we all realise that, but we know how good we are, and we know how we can play, so that second half performance should give the boys the confidence to realise that we can back ourselves a bit more.
“The second half showed the amount of effort the boys put in. We’ve been working non-stop for the last two weeks and we’ve just got to keep going.
“The message for the second half was that we are all here for a reason and we’ve all got something to give to the game. Let’s not go into our shell.
“Now we’ve seen what we can do we have to keep building momentum.”
The second half showed the amount of effort the boys put in. We’ve been working non-stop for the last two weeks and we’ve just got to keep going...
