After all the hype this ended up a pretty much one sided affair as Ireland cruised to a 26 –  3 win against their Welsh counterparts at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Ireland’s tries came from Chris Henry and Paddy Jackson. Jackson converted his own try to add to a conversion and four penalties from the imperious Johnny Sexton.

Yes, it’s one – nil to Joe Schmidt, in the battle between the Kiwi coaches, as Ireland completely out thought and out fought their Welsh counterparts in as one sided a game as I’ve seen at this level.

The first half try was due reward for Chris Henry who was immense in the loose. Though (cough, splutter) I must admit he was more than matched by team mate Peter O’Mahony who was in the running for the FRU Man of the Match until his gurning late on in the game made it so much easier for me to award the much coveted trophy to Rory Best who made the Irish back rows job so much easier with his colossal work rate and ball stealing.

Though the game started of at a thunderous pace with plenty of big hits coming in from both sides it was far from a classic. Ireland had a simple game plan of kick and chase and their dominant rolling maul gave them such a decisive edge that they didn’t need to vary their tactics.

Johnny Sexton and Conor Murray controlled the game perfectly with their accurate kicking and the chase was so effective, with Andrew Trimble leading the way more often than not, that the much vaunted Welsh back line seldom found enough space to get up a head of steam.

O’Mahony, Henry and Best ruled the breakdown and that was the game in a nutshell.

Sexton put Ireland into a 6 – 0 lead knocking over two early penalties from Welsh infringements before an excellent catch from Rob Kearney allowed Sexton to kick Ireland into the Welsh 22. A regulation catch and drive from the line out saw Henry rumble over for his first international try and with Sexton knocking over the conversion Ireland looked in complete control with a 13 – 0 lead at the break.

Ireland scored the first points after the break with Sexton knocking over his third penalty before Wales finally found some form coming close through Jamie Roberts.

O’Connell departed after 50 minutes to be replaced by Dan Tuohy who went off shortly after with an arm injury before Wales finally got on the score board with Leigh Halfpenny knocking over his first kick at goal to take the score to 16 – 3.

Wales were unable to sustain their fightback and Sexton restored the lead to 16 points with his fourth penalty of the afternoon but Wales regrouped to put in a big effort to finally get the ball over the Ireland line only for  replacement prop Rhodri Jones to be penalised for double movement.

The decision seemed to drain the fight from the Welsh and Ireland finished well on top with replacement Paddy Jackson sauntering over for one of the easiest International tries he’ll ever score after another diving maul from the dominant Ireland pack.

Jackson converted and he really should have rubbed more salt into the Welsh wounds in the closing seconds but he failed to find the inside pass to Dave Kearney after a break-out instigated by Isaac Boss.

Final Score: Ireland 26 Wales 3. 

IRELAND: Rob Kearney, Andrew Trimble, Brian O’Driscoll, Gordon D’Arcy, Dave Kearney, Jonathan Sexton, Conor Murray, Cian Healy, Rory Best, Mike Ross, Devin Toner, Paul O’Connell, Peter O’Mahony, Chris Henry, Jamie Heaslip. Replacements: Sean Cronin, Jack McGrath, Martin Moore, Dan Tuohy, Tommy O’Donnell, Isaac Boss, Paddy Jackson, Fergus McFadden.

WALES: Leigh Halfpenny, Alex Cuthbert, Scott Williams, Jamie Roberts, George North, Rhys Priestland, Mike Phillips, Gethin Jenkins, Richard Hibbard, Adam Jones, Andrew Coombs, Alun Wyn Jones, Dan Lydiate, Sam Warburton, Taulupe Faletau. Replacements: Ken Owens, Paul James, Rhodri Jones, Jake Ball, Justin Tipuric, Rhys Webb, James Hook, Liam Williams.