JAMIE Roberts says Wales have been left to kick themselves after wasting a glorious opportunity for Six Nations success in Ireland.

The visitors led 16-13 in the closing stages at the Aviva Stadium only for a penalty by Jonathan Sexton to secure a share of the spoils for the champions.

It means that Welsh hopes of repeating their feat of Grand Slams in the tournament following the last two World Cups have been dashed at the first hurdle, nor will they have the chance to lift the Triple Crown at Twickenham in round four.

Roberts, who produced a monstrous defensive performance in midfield, lamented the offside from a poor Lloyd Williams that meant they had to settle for a point rather than two.

“On 76 minutes, we’ve got the game won. We exited poorly and ultimately that has gifted them three points,” said the Harlequins centre.

“If that ball ends up in the Irish 22, it’s game over. So that’s disappointing. I suppose you look at big moments in games and we will look back at that and kick ourselves really that we didn’t go on to win that game.”

“We won a championship in 2013 after losing a game and we all know what happened last year when teams dropped a game, so the championship is wide open,” he continued.

Wales once again failed to convince with ball in hand, enduring a number of fruitless trips into the Irish 22.

Attack coach Rob Howley said before the tournament that they had to be more clinical after enduring a World Cup where they failed to take their chances against Australia and South Africa and there were familiar failings in Dublin.

“If you look back on the game we tried to play with a lot of width and they defended with width,” said Roberts.

“Maybe we had to go forward as well and maybe we didn’t get the balance right. Credit to Ireland’s defence, they stopped us regularly crossing the gain-line.

“If we get the balance right, there’s quality across our side.”