SIX NATIONS CHAMPIONSHIP Ireland 27 Wales 12:COME INTO the parlour said the spider to the fly. Once again, the team with less possession and less territory won, Ireland reprising their victory in Twickenham by absorbing long tracts of Welsh recycling while striking stealthily when their opportunities arose. Wales were properly mugged.
Ireland had to wait until the 16th minute of both the first and second halves for their first set-piece in Welsh territory, yet such is Alan Gaffney’s increasingly profound influence that their strike rate off first-phase moves or set plays is sharper than a razor’s edge.
This was what earned them a draw against Australia and, as in Twickenham a fortnight before, accounted for two of their three tries here.
Cometh the hour, Ireland had a lineout inside the Welsh 10-metre line. It was only their fifth set-piece in Welsh territory in the match. Yet you almost knew they had another strike move up their sleeve, even off a move that doesn’t quite work.
Tomás O’Leary’s first pass went to ground beyond the apparent decoy runs of Stephen Ferris and Tommy Bowe, in a variation of the match-winning move at Twickenham, but it sufficed to check the Welsh defence. This created the space out wide, Brian O’Driscoll scooped up the ball and returned it to O’Leary, who cut through beyond the despairing arms of Jamie Roberts and passed beautifully for Keith Earls to run in from the 22 without breaking stride. 24-9 to Ireland. Game over. Next for shaving.
In many ways, despite again being whistled off the park and having to make almost twice as many tackles, Ireland could have won by more. Jonathan Sexton, whose running game has added another dimension to Ireland’s attack, missed four kicks out of seven and will certainly rue his first penalty attempt and first conversion.
Furthermore, they left at least one try behind with the last play of the first half, and a fantastic play it was by the brilliant Earls, flicking O’Driscoll’s low pass from foot to hand before chipping ahead, only for Rob Kearney to inadvertently push the ball over the touch line. Declan Kidney’s faith in the gifted Earls has been handsomely rewarded.
All of which may have given the impression, false or otherwise, that Ireland won easing up. Considering the IRB, Paddy O’Brien and Craig Joubert contrived to reduce the contest at the breakdown in favour of the attacking team, and thereby dilute one of Ireland’s primary strengths, to limit Wales to just one line-break and no tries was all the more praiseworthy.
Once more, in the absence of Andy Powell, Ryan Jones and Mike Phillips, Wales lacked go-forward ballast up front and closer in, which obliged their talented back line to make things happen off very little, or at any rate plenty of static or lateral ball.
Credit in spades, though, to Les Kiss and the Irish defence again. They made the team who had scored six tries and made more line-breaks than any other in the first three rounds look almost impotent.
The communication, concentration and work-rate across the line was unstinting. Roberts and Lee Byrne ran into a reshuffled but impenetrable Irish midfield, and Shane Williams was forced to dance behind the gain line to no effect.
It helped, too, that Ireland nicked six of 18 Welsh lineouts, destroying the Matthew Rees throw in the first half particularly. And, as expected, the Irish backrow and secondrow utterly eclipsed their counterparts.
Clearly determined not to give themselves another self-inflicted mountain to climb, Wales began by reverting more to the lower-risk, kicking game that was the bedrock of their Grand Slam two years ago. Indeed, they possibly kicked better than Ireland, who didn’t help themselves with four kicks out on the full.
With Gordon D’Arcy’s departure after just 24 minutes, there was a ripple effect through the Irish three-quarter line; by the second half, when Geordan Murphy went to the wing and Rob Kearney to fullback, other than the halfbacks only the ever-dangerous Bowe was in the position he started, and by the end of the game he was the only Irish back who finished as he started.
Yet again, though, the sight of a Welsh player walking off after incurring a brainless yellow card with the word Brains on his jersey was riddled with irony. What possessed Byrne to prevent O’Leary moving the ball away from a ruck inside the Irish 22 only he knows.
In his absence, Ireland went for the jugular and scored two tries. O’Leary, predictably inspired by the last chapter at Croke Park, box-kicked well, defended mightily (combining with Jamie Heaslip to deny Roberts a try towards the end of the first half in what might have been a big momentum swing) and was a constant threat with his pace and footballing brain.
Castigated for a couple of quick taps in Paris, he was the creator-in-chief of the breakthrough try when he spotted that 14-man Wales had dozed off (the description of James Hook as a lazy runner seemed particularly apt), tapped quickly to Paul O’Connell and Earls straightened through at outside centre off O’Driscoll’s pass.
Sexton, when still a little woozy from successfully chasing O’Leary’s box-kick off a David Wallace turnover at the breakdown, probably should have let Murphy take the first conversion. The second was from the touchline, after Wales paid for counter mauling the Irish lineout and Martyn Williams was sucked in as O’Connell peeled off, with Stephen Jones failing to fill a yawning gap.
Ireland had clearly looked to offload more and O’Connell’s soft hands allowed O’Leary to quicken through and score with Murphy also on hand.
As big a play as any of Ireland’s three tries, and which drew as big a roar, was the huge turnover five-metre scrum on the Irish line in the 49th minute. That was a big, big moment for the pack and John Hayes in particular. As one of his former team-mates put it on Saturday evening, he may not be a world-class scrummager, but he is a world-class prop.
SCORING SEQUENCE: 10 mins: S Jones pen 0-3; 18: Sexton pen 3-3; 24: Sexton pen 6-3; 27: Earls try 11-3; 31: O'Leary try 16-3; 38: S Jones pen 16-6; (half-time 16-6); 52: Sexton pen 19-6; 55: S Jones pen 19-9; 60: Earls try 24-9; 64: S Jones pen 24-12; 77: Sexton drop goal 27-12.
IRELAND: G Murphy (Leicester); T Bowe (Ospreys), B O'Driscoll (Leinster, capt), G D'Arcy (Leinster), K Earls (Munster); J Sexton (Leinster), T O'Leary (Munster); C Healy (Leinster), R Best (Ulster), J Hayes (Munster), D O'Callaghan (Munster), P O'Connell (Munster), S Ferris (Ulster), D Wallace (Munster), J Heaslip (Leinster). Replacements: R Kearney (Leinster) for D'Arcy (24 mins), T Buckley (Munster) for Hayes (74 mins), R O'Gara (Munster) for Earls (78 mins), L Cullen (Leinster) for O'Connell, S Jennings (Leinster) for Ferris, E Reddan for (Leinster) for O'Leary (all 79 mins). Not used: S Cronin (Connacht).
WALES: L Byrne (Ospreys); L Halfpenny (Cardiff Blues), J Hook (Ospreys), J Roberts (Cardiff Blues), S Williams (Ospreys); S Jones (Scarlets), R Rees (Cardiff Blues); P James (Ospreys), M Rees (Scarlets), A Jones (Ospreys), B Davies (Cardiff Blues), L Charteris (Dragons), J Thomas (Ospreys), M Williams (Cardiff Blues, capt), G Delve (Gloucester). Replacements: H Bennett (Ospreys) for M Rees (57 mins), I Gough (Ospreys) for Davies (59 mins), D Peel (Sale Sharks) for R Rees (62 mins), A Bishop (Ospreys) for Byrne (64 mins), S Warburton (Cardiff Blues) for M Williams (67 mins), R Gill (Saracens) for James (77 mins). Not used: T Shanklin (Cardiff Blues).
Referee: Craig Joubert(South Africa).
