Ireland 31
Wales 7
IRELAND MADE THEIR fans wait for that last hurrah. It arrived with the clock a minute in the red. Tadhg Beirne was the man to put the cherry on a cake that had threatened to turn a little sour-tasting at times in the second half against Wales.
Such was Ireland’s first-half dominance in Dublin, you were tempted to wonder if they might challenge their record winning margin of 44 against Wales.
17-0 to the good and having left a few scores out there, it seemed that Ireland could kick on towards a massive win. That wasn’t quite to be but they did notch their third bonus-point win from three in this Six Nations as their Grand Slam bid continued.
The reality was that an inexperienced Wales side dug deep and showed some of their characteristic grit to make it a contest after the break.
Have we come to the point where a Six Nations win for Ireland against Wales is taken for granted? Andy Farrell’s men got the job done here but they were made to fight for it.
On a beautiful, cold spring afternoon in Dublin, Ireland ensured that a win against England in Twickenham in two weekends’ time and then a victory at home over Scotland will secure Ireland’s fifth-ever Slam.
There was some excellent stuff in the Irish performance, with Dan Sheehan scoring from a 13-man maul, James Lowe crossing from a classy Calvin Nash pass, Ciarán Frawley scoring on his first Test start at fullback, and Beirne finishing late on. Jack Crowley was 100% off the tee.
Munster tighthead Oli Jager got his international debut off the bench, while there were long patches of the game that saw Ireland totally dominate the collisions. That hasn’t always been the case against Welsh teams. Bundee Aki was player of the match with a punchy performance in midfield, while there was impact from the Irish bench.
The Irish scrum was destructive in the first half, a welcome sight as the impressive Andrew Porter and Sheehan consistently went forward.
Ireland’s discipline was an issue as Beirne was sin binned in the first half and sub lock James Ryan was shown yellow late in the second, Beirne’s offence also punished with a penalty try during Wales’ real purple patch after half time.
The Irish lineout had a frustrating outing after its perfection in the two wins over France and Italy, with a few key losses in that area denying Farrell’s men an attacking platform.
The bottom line is that Ireland have maximum points after three games in the Six Nations and a second consecutive Grand Slam is in sight. These truly are good times for Irish fans.
There were ominous signs for Wales from the off as the Irish carriers won the first collisions and their defence started strongly, with Aki and Porter winning turnover penalties inside the opening eight minutes.
In between those poaches, Crowley had landed three points from the tee from 41 metres out, punishing Wales centre Nick Tompkins for a high tackle.
Ireland were already dominating possession and territory but it took a while for the tries to arrive. The Irish maul was turned over within sight of the Welsh tryline in the 10th minute, while jackal supreme Tommy Reffell earned a turnover after Gareth Thomas’s brilliant chop tackle on Joe McCarthy soon after.
The Irish lineout had its first loss of the Six Nations but their pack responded with an enormous scrum effort to win a penalty that Crowley kicked down the line. From the left corner, Ireland piled into the maul and hooker Sheehan crossed to score with 12 of his team-mates having joined.
Wales’ discipline was in freefall by now and their seventh penalty concession after just 29 minutes gave Ireland access for their second try in the 32nd minute. The Irish forwards battered away in the Welsh 22 before an explosive carry by McCarthy through Aaron Wainwright laid the platform for the score. Crowley fed right wing Calvin Nash and his slick pass over the head of Josh Adams freed Lowe to finish wide on the left.
Crowley added the extras for a 17-0 lead that held until half time, Ireland surviving some pressure in their own 22, big tackles from van der Flier, Doris, and Crowley part of the defensive effort.
Wales did finally get some genuine purchase into the game upon the restart, with two breakdown penalties from Ireland swiftly handing Gatland’s men a close-range lineout. Their maul got going and though Wales didn’t actually ground the ball, Piardi awarded a penalty try and sin-binned Beirne for changing his bind.
Tails suddenly up, Wales went into attack mode against Ireland’s 14 men but the home defence was initially resilient, with Frawley, Lowe and Crowley covering the backfield well. Still, the game had become far more of a contest and Wales sensed their chance.
Ireland’s discipline had slipped and by the time Beirne returned from his 10 minutes in the bin, they were defending their own tryline. Suitably refreshed by his sos beag, Beirne won an excellent maul turnover. When Wales flooded back at them from the ensuing Irish clearance, replacement hooker Rónan Kelleher came up with a muscular jackal turnover to fully lift the siege.
Kelleher was soon getting his nose through a Welsh tackle down the other end and then Lowe offloaded wonderfully to Gibson-Park from a clever Henshaw inside pass. Gibson-Park was stopped metres out, Nash went very close in the right corner, and finally Aki smashed over the tryline under the posts.
But sadly for Ireland, TMO Stuart Terheege flagged a knock-on from Henshaw a couple of phases before and the score was chalked off. The battle continued into the final quarter with Ireland still 17-7 ahead.
But Ireland’s third try wasn’t too long in coming as Frawley gleefully darted over to the left of the posts off a Gibson-Park pass. It came soon after Reffell was blessed to avoid a yellow card for cynically playing the ball in a ruck, but Ireland rolled up their sleeves, went into the corner and ground out space for Frawley to finish.
Sub back row Ryan Baird made his now characteristic galloping break out of Ireland’s 22 from a sharp Kelleher offload straight off the restart and you just sensed they might seal the deal with a bonus point try.
The fourth try never arrived though, with the gritty Welsh forcing Doris and Crowley to make a big intervention in holding the ball up over their own tryline just after replacement second row Ryan was sin-binned with the penalty count ticking up to 12.
Ireland did get the chance to finish the game down in Welsh territory, with sub wing Stuart McCloskey helping to earn territory, and it was Beirne who surged over for the fourth try to a rapturous roar in Dublin.
Ireland scorers:
Tries: Dan Sheehan, James Lowe, Ciarán Frawley, Tadhg Beirne
Conversions: Jack Crowley [4 from 4]
Penalties: Jack Crowley [1 from 1]
Wales scorers:
Tries: Penalty try
IRELAND: Ciarán Frawley; Calvin Nash (Stuart McCloskey ’67), Robbie Henshaw, Bundee Aki, James Lowe; Jack Crowley, Jamison Gibson-Park (Conor Murray ’70); Andrew Porter (Cian Healy ’73), Dan Sheehan (Rónan Kelleher ’55), Tadhg Furlong (Oli Jager ’55); Joe McCarthy (James Ryan ’55 (yellow card ’76)), Tadhg Beirne (yellow card ’42); Peter O’Mahony (captain) (Ryan Baird ’55), Josh van der Flier (Jack Conan ’51), Caelan Doris.
WALES: Cameron Winnett (Sam Costelow ’75); Josh Adams (Mason Grady ’58), George North, Nick Tompkins, Rio Dyer; Sam Costelow (Ioan Lloyd ’72), Tomos Williams (Kieran Hardy ’67); Gareth Thomas (Corey Domachowski ’65), Elliot Dee (Ryan Elias ’65), Keiron Assiratti (Dillon Lewis ’51); Dafydd Jenkins, Adam Beard (Will Rowlands ’55); Alex Mann (Mackenzie Martin ’55), Tommy Reffell, Aaron Wainwright.
Referee: Andrea Piardi [Italy].
