Unbeatable value pound for pound

Man of the Match/Gordon D'Arcy:The centre tells Johnny Wattersonwhy winning what turned out to be a dogfight was especially pleasing

An uncertain opening for Ireland. They went into this competition as the main billing but yesterday Wales kept stealing their thunder and for much of the show it was one of the supporting acts in this Six Nations Championship assuming the lead role.

So no academy awards but, as everyone knows, most of all Ireland's head coach, Eddie O'Sullivan, these ground-out, bread-and-butter games keeps the wolf from the door.

From that Ireland took a lot of satisfaction, and as Wales departed the Millennium Stadium wondering just how it was Ireland thieved three tries and won the match, the Irish players basked in the glory of having succeeded in what they had set out to do: simply deliver.

Not for the first time the Irish inside centre Gordon D'Arcy sparkled.

To be sure of stopping the Wexfordman you would need the stuff used in mines for removing stubborn seams of rock. But yesterday plastic explosive might not even have worked as D'Arcy glided, muscled and spun his way through the heavy Welsh traffic.

Again the upper-body strength and driving legs took him to the "man of the match" award. And all that despite nursing a groin problem.

"It's okay. It seems to be okay now," he said about the injury. "I played on with it so I'll figure it out tomorrow."

Clearly exhausted after what was a titanic battle, D'Arcy was in no doubt about the most pleasing part of this Irish performance.

"Our defence. We knew what was going to happen with Wales. They went for every chance, sped up the game and brought the ball wide and went for everything. Our scramble and our willingness to get back and our willingness not to let them score was a real heart-on-the-sleeve performance by this Irish team."

Analysis of the game was far from his mind. The video will wait as a pummelled body longs for a rest.

"It's a bit hard at the moment to see (how the game was). I'm so tired," said D'Arcy. "I'll look at it a little bit more tomorrow but when you have the calibre of players we have here, we said that if we all do our job and we all do it well, then the result will take care of itself.

"For the most part the performance was quite good. But it is going to take an awful lot more. Brian (O'Driscoll) spoke about momentum last week in the build-up to this competition. You know that's as good a start as any to get the ball rolling.

"I can't actually say any more about how good this Welsh team actually were and how hard they made it for us. They talk about playing their brand of rugby and they played it really well today. A couple of balls here and there and they could quite easily have snatched the game."

For a significant period in the first half the Irish looked nervous. Ronan O'Gara's kicking was iffy, some passes missed their intended targets and Ireland were stretched across the park as Wales probed the flanks.

"Yeah," says D'Arcy. "But I think anyone who has won in Wales knows just how hard that is. I was just looking at the lads there and everybody is so tired, almost subdued. That's what it takes to win here so we are happy. I mean one of our goals coming here was to stop them coming into the game and we were pleased that we did that and were able to play for the full 80 minutes just as much as Wales did."

For D'Arcy the match is never about the bauble presented afterwards for his personal performance - though the reason he earned it was, ironically, the selfless way he has begun to play the game and the small matter that he rarely does anything wrong and has no apparent weakness.

That said, the team did indicate tension and nerves for the opening 40 minutes.

"I'd say there probably were some nerves and some passes didn't go quite to hand. The 100-per-cent execution wasn't there. But as long as we get better in every game I think we're all right," he said. "Our defence is good enough and now we are starting to believe in it."

Belief really was not apparent until late in the game but as Ireland scrambled well and reacted to how the Welsh were defining the plays, at times it seemed the lines might fracture.

Even in attack, when green shirts had the ball, what looked like promising moves foundered on the rocks of error.

"I think we were defending for long periods and then when we got the ball didn't know what to do with it; we were almost surprised getting it," said the centre. "Then in the second half we calmed down a bit and the decision makers began to make the right decisions."

And so it was. An ugly game at times but one full of character and grit, personifed by Denis Leamy, Simon Easterby and perhaps the strongest pound-for-pound fighter in the competition, Gordon D'Arcy.