There was no fairytale return for Warren Gatland in his first SIx Nations match back in charge of Wales. In fact, at half-time in the clash against Ireland at the Principality Stadium, the New Zealander must have thought he was in the middle of a nightmare.
Wales would eventually lose the tournament opener 10-34 after a significantly improved performance after the break but the afternoon would have been a wake-up call of epic proportions for all involved. The entrenched issues from the Wayne Pivac era won't be fixed overnight, that's for sure.
Facing the number-one team in the world in your first game back at the helm wasn't exactly ideal either. Here is what the UK and Irish media made of the encounter in the Welsh capital.
READ MORE: Wales v Ireland winners and losers as young guns excite but Gatland facing world of problems
MailOnline - 'an unmitigated disaster'
The Welsh Rugby Union probably thought it couldn’t get any worse.
Until this.
After a fortnight of negative off-field headlines focusing on shocking allegations of sexism and misogyny at the governing body and the resignation of chief executive Steve Phillips, this Six Nations opener was a chance for everyone in Wales to focus on the action on the pitch.
It was an unmitigated disaster, certainly before half-time. World No 1 Ireland were utterly dominant and far too good for the home side even without key duo Tadhg Furlong and Jamison Gibson-Park due to injury.
For Warren Gatland, it was a chastening first game back as Wales boss. His team’s opening 40 minutes was totally abject. Wales conceded nine first-half penalties and Ireland walked – or rather crashed – straight through the door to score three times.
Gatland put a positive spin on defeat and he is probably right when he said Wales will improve from this. They could hardly get worse than their first half here.
Telegraph - 'brutally one-sided'
Warren Gatland’s return to Wales over the winter, following an absence of three years was hailed as the second coming of the Messiah. After this performance, many will be of the opinion that the New Zealander, who led the country to four Six Nations titles, including three Grand Slams, during his first stint in charge, will need to perform a miracle if he is to turn the red ship around. This was a brutally one-sided contest, one which laid bare the scale of the task Gatland has undertaken.
No one expected it to be easy, of course. Wales’s confidence took a battering under Wayne Pivac. And the game itself is in crisis mode in these parts with allegations of bullying, sexism and racism raising serious questions for the WRU, not to mention the state of Welsh club rugby. Under such circumstances, Ireland were far from the perfect opening day guests. Andy Farrell’s team are the world’s No 1 ranked team for a reason. They are well drilled, with strength in depth and enviable continuity.
But even so, at the Principality Stadium, with over 70,000 fans cheering for them, and Gatland’s reassuring presence in the dugout, Wales’s fans would have expected much more.
Guardian - Ireland 'a different class'
It seems Wales may require more than the return of Gats to solve their problems. The Warren Gatland Era 2.0 began in disappointing fashion, beaten comprehensively in Wales’s famously passionate arena by a swaggeringly confident Ireland team, who open their campaign with this bonus-point win.
With Gatland back in charge and some of his finest warriors of yore out on the field, there were even thoughts – dreams maybe – of the underdogs snarling enough in their lair to put one over the visitors, looking all sleek and shiny up there at the top of the world rankings. The closed roof of the kennel was full to bursting beforehand with the songs of its faithful.
But that sheen of the Irish looks to run more deeply than the surface. They were in a different class. If anything, they will wonder why they won by only the 24 points, given they were up by the same amount by half-time.
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Independent.ie - 'we got a demolition derby'
There is an unmistakable feeling you get in this stadium as kick-off approaches. From the days when it was the Millennium, to its current incarnation as the Principality, on the big occasions it builds steadily and rolls over you in the same way, and with the same effect.
It boils down to this: there is nowhere else you’d rather be. If working in sport is considered journalism’s toy department, then this is Lego meets Scalextric.
What follows, however, sometimes doesn’t match the tone set by the support band. This instalment had moments of magic — many of them from man-of-the-match Hugo Keenan — but was too lopsided to live up to the preamble.
The consensus called for a thrilling opener to the Six Nations to shift the focus from the bleak background noise in the game across Europe. Instead we got a demolition derby, interrupted by an interval where the dominant side shifted dramatically from bullies to bystanders. Then they put their hobnailed boots on again and waded into a bonus-point win.
RTE - 'a real statement'
Considering how Ireland's Six Nations campaign started back in 2019, their bonus-point start to this campaign, and in particular the opening half of yesterday's 34-10 win against Wales feels like a real statement.
The 80 minutes as a whole was far from perfect, and their ill-discipline and kicking game in the third quarter is something that will be honed in on in the Monday review in Abbotstown.
But the nature in which they silenced the Principality Stadium during the first 40 minutes of Warren Gatland's homecoming was in stark contrast to the paralysis of their defeat to England in Dublin four years ago, when they had seemingly entered a World Cup year with the world at their feet.
In the opening quarter in Cardiff, you could have been forgiven for thinking that Wales were the side who suffered two late injury withdrawals, such was the fluidity in everything Ireland did.
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