Sam Warburton refused to blame the England loss on fatigue © Getty Images

Enlarge

Wales captain Sam Warburton says the blame for last weekend's defeat by England lies firmly with the players, who failed to execute the gameplan set out for them in training.

Writing in his Telegraph column, Warburton revealed that many of the moves Wales planned to unleash on England never came to fruition at Twickenham.

Warburton said: "During the week in training, we had practised a lot of moves that we intended using, but we just did not use them. We did not execute the game plan we had intended.

"I hear there has been a lot of criticism of our game plan, but it all came down to poor execution by the players.

"We just missed opportunities and made errors. Of the 17 turnovers we conceded, 10 were in England's red zone [their 22].

"In other words we were giving up good attacking ball. That is something we do not normally do. It is hard to put a finger on why."

Warburton refused to blame fatigue for the loss, saying that although many players have played a lot of games this season, several key men have been out recovering from injury.

He said: "I have heard that fatigue from last summer's British & Irish Lions tour has been blamed. That is just an easy excuse.

"I have had four months off so I cannot complain. Yes, some players such as Dan Lydiate, Alun-Wyn Jones, Toby Faletau, Alex Cuthbert and Leigh Halfpenny have played a lot of games.

"But Jamie Roberts, Jonathan Davies, Gethin Jenkins and myself have all had long lay-offs."

Warburton also revealed that the Wales dressing room was paid a visit by Manchester United footballer Ryan Giggs after the final whistle. Warburton said: "It was the first time I had met Ryan and he seems a really nice guy. It was just so frustrating that we had not played as we can for him and all the other Welsh supporters that day."