Frustration for Wales

Jonathan Thomas admits Wales have endured an 'incredibly frustrating' Six Nations campaign ahead of Saturday's salvage mission against Ireland in Dublin.

If Wales wreck Irish Triple Crown ambitions at Croke Park, it will have a fighting chance of finishing second in this season's tournament.

Lose to the reigning Six Nations champions though, and Wales will find itself in the wooden spoon mix next weekend when annual strugglers Italy visit Cardiff.

And those possible scenarios with two games left accurately reflect Wales' rollercoaster Six Nations.

After trailing England 20-3 and title favourites France 20-0, Wales threatened spectacular fightbacks in both Tests before ultimately falling short, although it did stage a blockbusting late show to beat Scotland.

"International rugby is about winning," said Ospreys flanker Thomas, who wins his 54th cap in a Wales back-row shorn of injured skipper Ryan Jones.

"We know we are under-achieving. We are better than the table shows, and we should have beaten France and England.

"It is up to us to sort it out. It is easier to take when you lose to a side that is better than you.

"It has been incredibly frustrating because we could have won the first three games.

"We know we can turn it on and play good rugby against any side in the world. If we play a bit smarter, we will be in charge of our own destiny.

"We are not far away from being a top team.

"France had a great defensive record and they are an incredibly physical side who smashed Ireland at home, but we ran them ragged in the second-half and they were physically gone.

"To do that to a side of their renown says something. We can take a lot from that, and it was the same with Scotland.

"A lot has been made about how we start games, but the important thing for us is that we are not far away. To see what we are doing to sides shows we are going in the right direction.

"We need to concentrate more at the start and not give ourselves such a mountain to climb."

Thomas is among seven survivors in the Wales starting line-up from Croke Park two years ago, when a 16-12 away victory - achieved despite having Mike Phillips and Martyn Williams sin-binned - secured Triple Crown glory.

Wales return to Dublin with no silverware on offer this time, but Thomas added: "Having positive memories of a ground does help.

"I played at Lansdowne Road a couple of times, There always seemed to be a howling wind there and the crowd were very close to the action.

"Even though it was not much more than half the attendance you would get at Croke Park, it was very intimidating.

"I played there twice and we had two bad losses, whereas I have fonder memories of Croke Park."

Unless Wales repeats its 2008 success though, coach Warren Gatland can expect a lengthy and detailed interrogation by Welsh pundits and supporters rightly unhappy with only a 50 percent success-rate from the last 10 Test matches.

The five wins came against Canada, USA, Samoa, Argentina and Scotland - three of them at home - while Wales lost to Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, England and France.

However much Gatland and his players talk a good game, the stark reality is they are not delivering victories on a consistent basis.

But Thomas insisted: "We have a never-say-die attitude and always believe we are going to win, no matter who we play.

"Our rugby sessions are brutal every single week - we don't pick and choose when we train hard.

"Warren wants to take us to a level in training that matches or surpasses the intensity of a game.

"Our game-plan revolves around playing at a high intensity and taking teams out of their comfort zone, using our fitness and strength in the last quarter of matches.

"It worked in 2008, but it has not quite done so this time. We are not in a bad place though, looking ahead to the [2011] World Cup.

"Ireland, in the last 10 years, have been a very consistent side. They are strong up-front and have world-class backs like [Brian] O'Driscoll, (Gordon) D'Arcy and [Tommy] Bowe.

"They had a kick up the backside against France [Ireland lost 33-10] after winning the Grand Slam last year, and they responded in style by beating England.

"We know their players inside out and what to expect, but we are confident in ourselves and in our ability. It will be a great Test match."