Mike Ross admits Ireland’s defeat to England on Sunday left him with regrets, but he is now turning his attention towards the task of beating Scotland when their RBS 6 Nations campaign resumes.
The tight head prop was left hurting by the 12-6 reverse at the Aviva Stadium on Sunday, which put paid to their Grand Slam hopes.
Ross pointed to the ten-minute spell that saw England a man down when James Haskell was sent to the sin bin as a missed opportunity for the hosts. But he is keen to dwell no longer on England’s first win in Dublin since 2003.
“We probably weren’t clinical enough, we had our opportunities,” said the 33-year-old Leinster forward told the Irish Times.
“We were thrown a lifeline when James Haskell got sin-binned but we didn’t take it. Instead of pushing forward and getting ahead we ended behind when he came back on which is not ideal.
“For whatever reason we didn’t press that advantage home and England lifted their game another ten per cent as they had to do with a man in the bin. That resulted in the winning and losing of the game.
“I think we’re pretty frustrated, it’s an accurate summation because we had opportunities and didn’t take them – it’s six points at the end of the day.”
Ross revealed it usually takes the squad a couple of days of “feeling sorry for ourselves” after suffering a defeat, but added: “We’ve got a big test in two weeks against Scotland.”
