Six Nations: Ireland 21 Wales 23

Ireland got pretty much what they deserved out of this one with Wales snatching a a late penalty through Leigh Halfpenny to take the spoils.

Watching the game on BBC1 was somewhat surprised to hear the panel eulogise over the performances from both teams at the end. Maybe I’m just not into the senior side that much these days but I thought the first half was pretty poor, in fact I fell asleep before the break, and the second half was only really exciting in it’s closeness.

Both sides made plenty of mistakes, Ireland’s kicking game was appalling and handling generally poor from both sides. For much of the first half Wales failed to make any headway against a fairly weak Irish midfield.
[aside]While Ireland’s midfield will no doubt get the blame for this defeat my reckoning is that it ‘s down to poor tactics and the continued selection of the three beefy ball carriers in the back row.  Ireland have only had success with this back row when the rest of the pack are on fire – slowing down the opponents ball and keeping Ireland on the front foot. Front foot ball allows all three of the back row to carry – without front foot ball O’Brien becomes a passenger.

The number of times that Irish players were turned over is where this game was lost. [/aside]
Ireland made a reasonable start and took a 3 – 0 lead through the boot of Johnny Sexton.

However Wales hit back and enjoyed the bulk of possession with Jonathan Davies crossing ten minutes later to put the visitors in the lead.

Wales continued to dominate proceedings, but squandered chances with only the place kicking of  Rhys Priestland and poor lineouts causing them any real concern. As the half drew t a close Ireland eventually managed  to string together a period of possession and Rory Best went over the whitewash for Ireland’s opening try. Sexton added the extras and moments later the Leinster out half added a penalty to give Ireland an unlikely 10 – 5 lead at the break.

Leigh Halfpenny took over kicking duties for Wales in the second half and he and Sexton swapped early penalties and Wales went back in the lead with Davies second try after George North used the hapless Fergus McFadden as a speed bump as he broke through Ireland’s midfield defence. Halfpenny added the extras and Wales led 13 – 15.

Ireland inched back in front on the sixty minute mark with Sexton’s third penalty and when Bowe crossed shortly after Bradley Davis’ yellow card it looked as though Ireland would snatch the win with the score reading 21 – 15 with just over ten minutes to go.
[aside]Bradley Davis has now been cited for  his spearing of Donnacha Ryan and much will be made of his and Ferris’ yellow cards. While the sending offs affected the scoreline I don’t think they affected the result. Wales were the better team on display and always looked the most likely to win – but then again look at Scotland losing.  [/aside]
Wales had other ideas and North barged over in the corner for Wales’ third try but when Halfpenny missed the conversion it looked as though Ireland would hang on for a 21 – 20 win.

Unfortunately, the game still had one more dramatic twist with Ferris’ innocuous tackle being interpreted as dangerous and as the big Ulster man trudged off Leigh Halfpenny slotted over the penalty to give  Wales the 21 – 23 win.

IRELAND: (15-9) Rob Kearney,  Tommy Bowe, Keith Earls, Gordon D’Arcy, Andrew Trimble, Jonathan Sexton,  Conor Murray. (1-8) Cian Healy, Rory Best, Mike Ross, Donncha O’Callaghan, Paul O’Connell, Stephen Ferris, Sean O’Brien, Jamie Heaslip. (16-22) Sean Cronin, Tom Court, Donnacha Ryan, Peter O’Mahony, Eoin Reddan, Ronan O’Gara, Fergus McFadden.

Six Nations Week 1.
Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	PTS
France	1	1	0	0	30	12	2
England	1	1	0	0	13	6	2
Wales	1	1	0	0	23	21	2
Ireland	1	0	0	1	21	23	0
Scotland	1	0	0	1	6	13	0
Italy	1	0	0	1	12	30	0

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