Rob Kearney plays down Ireland concerns

Ireland full-back Rob Kearney has played down concerns over the team's ability to score tries.

The reigning Six Nations champions saw their hopes of retaining their crown suffer a blow on Saturday with a 23-16 defeat to Wales.

Criticism was directed at the team after the match as they failed to make their possession and pressure count.

However, Kearney believes that Ireland are no less potent in attack than any of the other sides competing in the tournament.

"If you look across the board at the other teams, I don't think it is an area where Ireland are massively underperforming in comparison to other teams," he is quoted as saying by Sky Sports News.

"The amount of tries scored in this competition, right across the board, over the last four rounds has been quite minimal.

"While it is frustrating a little bit that we are not scoring those tries, sometimes you have to look where the other teams are and if you can see there is a little bit of a trend, it eases that frustration a little bit."

Ireland need to earn a big win in their final match against Scotland at Murrayfield on Saturday if they want to give themselves a chance of winning the Six Nations.