THE DAY STARTED with a tear. As the anthems played at Aviva Stadium the cameras honed in on Tadhg Furlong, who was clearly feeling the emotion of the occasion. This was the first time Furlong had played for Ireland in Dublin since the death of his father, James, in December.
Amid the talk of tactics and team selections which dominate Six Nations weeks, it can be easy to overlook the personal lives of the players involved. There are stories all over this Irish team. Consider Oli Jager, who won his first Test cap off the bench today. His journey took him all the way from Naas to New Zealand before Ireland came calling last year. Just six caps into his Munster career, at the age of 28, the prop is now finally an Irish international.
Consider too Calvin Nash. Just a couple of seasons ago the winger thought about giving up the game, such was his frustration with the lack of opportunites coming his way at Munster. Now he’s shining on the biggest days of the year.
Just four caps into his Test career, the 26-year-old looks like he’s been part of the squad for years. A try-scorer against both France and Italy in recent weeks, he had some lovely contributions again across this 31-7 defeat of Wales.
Seeing a try-scoring opportunity shut down on the right flank, Nash did exactly what a winger in this Irish system is meant to do. Rejoining the play, he roamed infield and soon found himself on the opposite wing, squeezing a beautiful pass out wide to send James Lowe over in the corner as Welsh bodies looked to swallow him up – a quality play delivered under real pressure.
The Lowe try arrived just over 30 minutes into a game Ireland had dominated, without reaping the usual reward. Having had little trouble in seeing off the challenges of France and Italy, here Ireland looked a little more human. For the first time in this Six Nations they lost possession off their own lineout while a number of visits to the Wales 22 ended in frustration. All this occurred while the home side remained utterly dominant, gaining ground in almost every carry and mincing the Welsh pack at scrum-time.
A slow, somewhat tense start saw Ireland fly forward in numbers only for Wales to hold them out with some determined defensive efforts.
The dam finally broke when Dan Sheehan spilled over from a 13-man maul on 21 minutes, the mass of green bodies eventually overpowering the red once Jack Crowley, Bundee Aki and James Lowe all added their weight to the effort at the request of Jamison Gibson-Park.
It allowed Crowley, who had already kicked an early penalty, knock over an extra two points from the sideline.
The out-half has quickly settled into this team but it’s hard to watch Ireland these days and not think about the players who aren’t there. Before kick-off the big screens flashed up an image of Johnny Sexton in the crowd, the former captain meeting the warm reception with a slightly embarrassed looking smile.
Crowley’s body of work across the opening Six Nations rounds suggests life without Sexton will be just fine, but there remain some questions around this high-flying Irish side, who remain on course to become the first team to win back-to-back Grand Slams in the Six Nations era.
The depth across most areas of the pitch looks fiercely competitive, but now we’re getting answers around the positions that remain something of a mystery.
Jimmy O’Brien had been the assumed next-in-line to the seemingly immovable Hugo Keenan, but with both players sidelined Andy Farrell found himself needing to call in a new face for today’s challenge.
Enter Ciarán Frawley, a player who remains one of the great unknowns in Irish rugby. While 79 caps into his Leinster career, the jury is still out on whether the 26-year-old is best utilised at out-half, centre or fullback. The player himself wants more time at 10, but found his first Ireland start come with the 15 on his back.
Writing in his weekly Telegraph column, Wales head coach Warren Gatland highlighted Frawley as a potential target for his side. As it happened, they rarely got the chance to trouble him on what was a rather stress-free afternoon for the Skerries man.
Today must have felt a long time coming for Frawley, who has been hovering in and around this Ireland squad for over two years now. A Test debut had been planned for November 2022 only for injury to rule him out, his first cap not arriving until last summer’s World Cup warm-up games.
It’s not long since Frawley was being touted as Sexton’s potential successor, but he’s had to scrap hard to get a game with this Irish team. There was pressure on his shoulders today but he did enough to further his case as an option at fullback going forward, his second-half try the highlight moment of an often scrappy encounter on a beautifully crisp Dublin day.
Ireland played nearly all the rugby in the Welsh half across the opening 40, leaving Frawley with little to do, his main contributions a nice pass wide to Nash and a neat show-and-go which allowed him steal a few extras yards around halfway.
Frawley is a fine athlete, tall and powerful with a lovely skillset. It wasn’t until the second period that he properly got to demonstrate that part of his game, a clever dummy and chip inside his own half sparking the stadium into life again after Wales had put a penalty try on the scoreboard. His kicking kept Wales on their toes, while he finished the game having beaten more defenders (6) than any other Irish player.
Briefly, Wales threatened to make this uncomfortable for Ireland as the home side’s penalty count rose and their game management crumbled in the early stages of the second half. The visitors had chances to close the gap but Ireland held firm before taking control again.
After bossing the first 40, Ireland’s levels slipped across a sleepy third quarter, during which the stadium fell into silence as this young Wales side dug in impressively.
The hush ended when Aki appeared to have scored Ireland’s third try, only for the TMO to find a Robbie Henshaw knock-on.
At one point the stadium screens pleaded with the home crowd to “ROAR!” – but there was little to get excited about. Frawley chased a Crowley aerial bomb but slapped the ground in frustration when he failed to gather possession. He was threatening, but it wasn’t quite happening.
Ireland continued to build pressure and eventually, the security score arrived. Winning clean ball from a lineout in the Wales 22, Ireland worked the ball infield where Frawley was on hand to dive across and score his first Test try.
“He was solid enough,” said Andy Farrell, assessing his fullback’s performance after the game.
It was a big day for him and Gats was saying all week they were going to test him. He’s always solid.
“His skillset is sound and he’s always solid under the high ball, has hands, and he communicates well as well. I suppose he’ll be glad that’s done now and he can build on it.”
The try was a dream moment for Frawley which allowed Ireland press on in search of the bonus-point score.
It arrived with the clock in the red, Tadhg Beirne racing through after a sustained, patient Ireland attack which included some strong contributions from Crowley and Caelan Doris before the Munster lock punched through. Job done.
If a 24-point, bonus-point win feels a little underwhelming, then Irish rugby is surely in a decent place.
Ireland have played better rugby in this championship but the Grand Slam drive remains firmly on track.
