Gatland not reaching for panic button
Warren Gatland insisted there would be no panic after his side slipped to a 16-21 home defeat to England in their Six Nations opener in Cardiff.
Wales raced into a 10-point advantage inside five minutes, but couldn't maintain that momentum as Stuart Lancaster's team erased the painful memory of their 3-30 defeat in this fixture two years ago.
Gatland will now look to rally his troops for next weekend's visit to Murrayfield, but admitted England were just better when it mattered.
"It was a tough, tight Test match and you've got to give England credit," he said.
"We had a good first half but we started poorly in the second half and allowed them to put us under pressure. We were comfortable at half-time but they came back really strongly.
"We were good in the first half but, in fairness to England, they were much better in the second half. At this level you need to be accurate and we weren't as accurate as we should be."
Wales were at full strength – including 11 British and Irish Lions in their starting line-up – while England were without a number of star names, as injuries have caused Lancaster major headaches in recent weeks.
But Gatland countered suggestions this result was made worse by the nature of the opposition.
"I thought some of their players were outstanding," he added.
"They were not a totally depleted team, far from it. They've got a lot of strength in the depth. Tom Wood will find it very difficult to get into that team the way that James Haskell played here.
"We've lost the first game of the Six Nations and we have to get back on the horse, we've a massive game in Edinburgh next weekend."
Meanwhile, captain Sam Warburton paid credit to their opposition for their performance and is adamant the lessons would be learned for the trip to Scotland.
"I thought England played very well in the second half," he said.
"We choked tackles and they did well at the breakdown. We couldn't muscle ourselves into the game in the second half and they just outplayed us.
"We've another game in a week and we know what we need to do."
Gatland also played down any significance the result had on the World Cup in which his team have been drawn in the same pool as England, Australia and Fiji, with only two teams qualifying for the quarterfinals.
"It's seven months before we play England again," he said in reference to the September 26 Twickenham showdown between the two nations.
"Even had we won today it wouldn't have meant a huge amount in regards to seven months' time. We've lost the first game of the Six Nations and we have to get back on the horse."
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