Wales lost five scrums and three lineouts at The Recreation Ground in the face of a fearsome English pack, yet stayed in the game for long periods and forced the home side to dig deep before clinching their bonus-point try in the 73rd minute.
England enjoyed 62% possession and 64% territory as they made it two wins in a row. The Irish did the same with a dramatic 23-22 victory against the vastly improved Italians.
You have to go back to 2018 for the last time Wales beat Ireland at U20 level – 41-38 in an 11 try thriller in Dublin. James Botham scored twice for Wales on that occasion, Tommy Reffell got another, and no fewer than nine of that side have since won senior caps.
Since then, there have been slim pickings for Wales with three defeats at home and two away. They were crushed 53-5 on their last trip to Cork two years ago, conceding eight tries and two yellow cards.
“It doesn’t get any tougher than going to Cork. The stadium will be rammed, and they always get behind their boys,” said Whiffin.
“It’s another opportunity for us to go out there and put our game on the field. We’ve got two weeks to tidy up a few areas that need to be tightened and we will go there with full guns blazing and plenty of confidence.”
That confidence will be born out of a belligerent defensive effort against the juggernaut English pack. On top of that, whenever Wales did get the ball they looked dangerous on attack.
“England had an advantage in the scrum and that gave them a massive foothold in the game. That said I was immensely proud of my team and the way they defended on their line,” added Whiffin.
“For a team to have such dominance in that area of the game and not put us away showed how well we defended. There is a tinge of disappointment that we didn’t take some of our chances when they came along – we might have got to 21-14 and that would have made them wobble a bit.
“It’s all experience for the players. We were working on 30% territory in the first half, but we knew we would threaten them with the ball – but it was just a case of how often would we get it.
“Sometimes the game doesn’t go your way in that aspect. We had to dig in, but their scrum gave them a massive platform into the game.
“We knew we would threaten when we got a chance. When we had the ball, we were dangerous. We just didn’t get it as often as we would have liked.
“The boys showed great heart. There were two or three long defensive sets on their line that showed what it means to play for Wales. I can’t fault their effort.
“Now we have a bit of time to reflect. Some of the technicalities around our tackling was outstanding, we chopped their big boys legs, and we put pressure on their ball.”
