Ireland sharp and ruthless Lansdowne Road

Ireland 54, Wales 10: Notions of it being a tight one, which even Eddie O'Sullivan had genuinely harboured, lasted until, well, the kick-off. Wales won the toss, which was about as good as it got for them.

All those years of Welsh crowing in Dublin were paid back handsomely as Ireland shredded the visitors' defence and the record books in almost equal measure. It was nice.

Ireland looked infinitely more talented and also infinitely better coached. They hit rucks in greater numbers, they were hungry for work both in attack - where they were far more clued in to the options available - and especially in defence, where they regrouped quickly, keeping the numbers out, and then made their tackles. The tackler invariably received quick support to drive the isolated Welsh carriers from the gain line.

According to the official stats, Simon Easterby led the way in the Irish tackle count and offloads, and was surpassed only by the brilliant Brian O'Driscoll and Kevin Maggs in ball carries. Even the scores almost went where O'Sullivan would have wanted. Geordan Murphy's undoubted talents at last sparkled in an Irish jersey as he kick-started both halves with tries. Paul O'Connell garnished the occasion with a debut try, as did Keith Gleeson with his very first touch.

Peter Clohessy enjoyed himself thoroughly, marking his celebratory day with plenty of ball carries and some nifty handwork. David Wallace showed what a supreme, modern-day rugby athlete he is, while David Humphreys looked as if he could have been playing in dressing-gown and slippers, so in control was he.

Wales looked better this time on paper; shame about the grass. Only the Quinnells and Stephen Jones, at a push, showed any stomach for the fight. For reasons best known to themselves, Wales elected to give Ireland first use of the wind. By the time it was their turn, the game was long since up.

They weren't helped by losing Chris Wyatt and Jamie Robinson, but you'd have to wonder whether it would have made a blind bit of difference. Their porous defence was breached inside the first five minutes when Iestyn Harris left a huge gap for David Wallace to exploit, and they missed nine tackles in the first half alone.

They committed the most basic of errors when attempting to run the ball out from their own half and they coughed up silly penalties for soft three-pointers.

By half-time the on-site bookies were offering Wales at 100 to 1 to win, by which time they had made just two, fleeting sorties into Irish territory. After each Irish score, Stephen Jones would set attacking targets up the middle with short, hanging restarts, but Wallace, O'Driscoll and Easterby were alert every time and from the recycle Humphreys, whose line-kicking was immaculate, would pin Wales back.

About the only disappointing factor from the Irish coaching staff's point of view will probably have been the first-half lack of execution from the extraordinary number of set-piece platforms inside the Welsh 22, all the more so after such a prodigious start.

The Irish pack drove off a good lineout variation which saw Easterby move up to the middle of the line and Humphreys' delayed pass to Wallace allowed the flanker to career through a huge hole courtesy of Harris. Murphy timed his support run up the middle to score a well-taken if soft and fairly routine try.

Humphreys converted and tagged on a couple of penalties. Wales were going nowhere, the quicksilver Peter Stringer even had the temerity to mess Howley up at the base of a Welsh scrum. The biter bitten.

The penalties were mounting, an early 7-1 tally to Ireland giving them an attacking lineout which O'Connell tapped down to Mick Galwey, before taking over the drive to plough over with a little help from Anthony Foley.

O'Driscoll, making openings where none existed, kept the ball alive an age in the tackle for the want of a support runner and was then just edged out to his own kick ahead by Dafydd James after Ian Gough had checked him.

So Ireland had to be content with a couple more Humphreys penalties before Jones opened the Welsh account with the last kick of the half.

Murphy, a long shot to open the scoring in both halves, delivered again with another well-timed support run onto Maggs' offload from the deck. To the delight of the crowd, the groundwork had actually been done by the props, as John Hayes gobbled up Andy Marinos' spill before rumbling upfield, and then Clohessy put Maggs through with the sweetest of reverse passes.

Humphreys kept the scoreboard ticking over, the reward as much for Ireland's hard-working defence as anything, before good offloads by Scott Quinnell and Gough enabled Stephen Jones to score in the corner. He also converted.

At this point, a tiring Ireland needed fresh fuel from the bench, the full compliment of seven being used to rub Welsh noses in it and ensure a ruthless finale.

A nicely angled run and beautifully timed pass by Humphreys put Denis Hickie over. Swinging freely now, from the restart the ball was worked to O'Driscoll who latched onto his own chip (his kicking game has improved discernibly since the Lions tour) to embark on an arcing dribble.

A posse of four were queuing up for his offload with scarcely a wilting Welshman in sight, and a beaming Gleeson was best placed to gather and score with his first touch in Test rugby.

O'Gara rounded things off by stepping inside a disinterested looking Harris; the supposed saviour of Welsh rugby ended the match as he began it. His midfield partner Marinos had become Wales' 999th Test player - most of them almost seeming to have come in the Graham Henry era. In fairness to the beleaguered Welsh coach, it is not a vintage crop.

Increasingly though, this does look like a vintage Irish crop.

HOW THEY LINED OUT

IRELAND: G Dempsey (Leinster); G Murphy (Leicester), B O'Driscoll (Leinster), K Maggs (Bath), D Hickie (Leinster); D Humphreys (Ulster), P Stringer (Munster); P Clohessy (Munster), F Sheahan (Munster), J Hayes (Munster), M Galwey (Munster, capt), P O'Connell (Munster), S Easterby (Llanelli), A Foley (Munster), D Wallace (Munster). Replacements - G Longwell (Ulster) for O'Connell (32 mins), S Byrne (Leinster) for Sheahan (72 mins), P Wallace (Leinster) for Clohessy (72 mins), K Gleeson (Leinster) for Galwey (72 mins), R O'Gara (Munster) for Humphreys (74 mins), R Henderson (Munster) for Hickie (74 mins), G Easterby (Llanelli) for Stringer (74 mins).

WALES: K Morgan (Swansea); D James (Bridgend), J Robinson (Cardiff), I Harris (Cardiff), C Morgan (Cardiff); S Jones (Llanelli), R Howley (Cardiff); S John (Cardiff), R McBryde (Llanelli), C Anthony (Newport), C Quinnell (Cardiff), C Wyatt (Llanelli), N Budgett (Bridgend), S Quinnell (Llanelli, capt), M Williams (Cardiff). Replacements - I Gough (Newport) for Wyatt (6 mins), A Marinos for Robinson (10 mins), D Jones for John (58 mins), D Peel (Llanelli) for Howley (58 mins), B Williams (Neath) for McBryde (70 mins).

Referee: Pablo Deluca (Argentina).

SCORING SEQUENCE - First half

5 mins: Murphy try, Humphreys con 7-0.

13: Humphreys pen 10-0.

20: Humphreys pen 13-0.

25: O'Connell try 18-0.

35: Humphreys pen 21-0.

39: Humphreys pen 24-0.

40: Jones pen 24-3.

SCORING SEQUENCE - Second half

48: Murphy try, Humphreys con 31-3.

53: Humphreys pen 34-3.

58: Humphreys pen 37-3.

63: Jones try and con 37-10.

73: Hickie try 42-10.

75: Gleeson try, O'Gara con 49-10.

80: O'Gara try 54-10.