Opening score: Simon Zebo
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Ireland produced a brilliant first-half display to clinch the opening fixture of the Six Nations with a 30-22 win over Wales in Cardiff.
A dire performance from Wales in the opening 40 minutes left them with a mountain to climb in the second-half, at which they threw everything to bounce back from a 30-3 scoreline to 30-22 in an utterly dominant half.
Ireland appeared to mentally crumble under the depth of their 27-point lead, producing brilliant defence at times but unable to escape their own half as Wales pounded away at the visitors try line, falling short of cutting down the whole deficit in a classic.
Superb hands from Brian O'Driscoll built the opening opportunity for Simon Zebo to touchdown in the left hand corner for the first score of the afternoon, with Jonathan Sexton converting.
Sexton's control with the boot and sharp hands from the Irish backs kept Wales pinned back and after a set of punishing phases, Ireland were held up in the right-hand corner. Wales held out from the resulting phase of play and Sexton settled for a penalty to stretch the lead to 10-0.
Best then charged down Biggar's kick before gathering the loose ball and sending the ball wide first to Heaslip before an audacious bit of skill from Zebo saw him use his feet kept the attack going, Cian Healy pouncing from close range to leave Wales on the ropes.
Another Sexton penalty stretched the lead to 20-0 with half an hour gone, Wales imploding with another loose pass from Davies going straight into touch in the Irish 22. Healy's attempt to drive out of his 22 resulted in a penalty at the breakdown to Wales, with Halfpenny putting his side on the board.
Warburton's cheap block on Zebo handed Ireland another attacking lineout, with O'Brien setting the foundations for a final flourish in the first half. Another penalty against Wales at the breakdown yielded one more opportunity for Sexton, who slotted the kick to leave the half-time score at 23-3.
Ireland carried on where they left off at the start of the second half, a scrum on the Welsh 22 setting up a series of relentless drives before O'Driscoll clawed his way over the line from the bottom of a ruck for Ireland's third try.
A response from Wales was essential and it came through sustained drives forward into the Irish half, hard yards culminating in a Welsh lineout five metres out from the try line. A pre-planned move saw Toby Faletau held up narrowly short, before Alex Cuthbert found space between the rushing Irish defenders to score the first try of the afternoon for Wales.
Cuthbert's score seemed to light a fuse under Welsh backsides as they went for broke, Faletau storming down the left touchline before a crucial hand from O'Driscoll brought the surge to a halt.
A tap penalty sent Wales backwards rather than nearer to the line as the Irish defence turned desperate, Gilroy producing a memorable tackle on Halfpenny before Romain Poite sent Rory Best to the sin-bin for entering from the side.
The extra space was then capitalised on by Halfpenny, the full-back burrowing under the double tackle of Rob Kearney and Jamie Heaslip to score in the right corner, missing the conversion to make the score 30-15.
There was to be no let up in the Welsh response as Cuthbert thundered down the right wing, but breakdown defence from Healy was enough to relieve the pressure with a penalty.
A crucial Welsh scrum yielded a penalty for Biggar to find the corner once more, Ireland mentally struggling with the hosts resurgence. Faletau appeared initially to crash the ball against the base of the post, falling marginally short as Conor Murray was sent to the bin.
Wales were utterly dominant but unable to cross the Irish line, Davies missing a simple overlap as the green wall heroically held firm with time running out.
The hosts inevitably came again though - Craig Mitchell appearing to dive over the line before the TMO confirmed Wales third try of the afternoon, narrowing the score to 30-22.
Ireland finally relieved the pressure by pinning Wales deep in their own half to close out a brilliant opener to this year's tournament - a classic with each side forcing the other into submission for lengthy periods in each half. Ireland march on dreaming of a title. Wales have hope.
Man of the match: Streetwise, skilful, a magnificent return to form from Brian O'Driscoll stole the show in Cardiff.
Moment of the match: An outrageous piece of footwork from Simon Zebo to control possession in the build-up to Ireland's second try.
Villain of the match: Unnecessary petulance from Mike Phillips after being brought back from a tap penalty was needless.
The scorers:
For Wales:
Tries: Cuthbert, Halfpenny, Mitchell
Con: Halfpenny 2
Pens: Halfpenny
For Ireland:
Tries: Zebo, Healy, O'Driscoll
Cons: Sexton 3
Pens: Sexton 3
Yellow Card: Best, Murray
Wales: 15 Leigh Halfpenny, 14 Alex Cuthbert, 13 Jonathan Davies, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 George North, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Mike Phillips, 8 Toby Faletau, 7 Sam Warburton, 6 Aaron Shingler, 5 Ian Evans, 4 Andrew Coombs, 3 Adam Jones, 2 Matthew Rees, 1 Gethin Jenkins.
Replacements: 16 Ken Owens, 17 Paul James, 18 Craig Mitchell, 19 Olly Kohn, 20 Justin Tipuric, 21 Lloyd Williams, 22 James Hook, 23 Scott Williams.
Ireland: 15 Rob Kearney, 14 Craig Gilroy, 13 Brian O'Driscoll, 12 Gordon D'Arcy, 11 Simon Zebo, 10 Jonathan Sexton, 9 Conor Murray, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 Sean O'Brien, 6 Peter O'Mahony, 5 Mike McCarthy, 4 Donnacha Ryan, 3 Mike Ross, 2 Rory Best, 1 Cian Healy.
Replacements: 16 Sean Cronin, 17 Dave Kilcoyne, 18 Declan Fitzpatrick, 19 Donncha O'Callaghan, 20 Chris Henry, 21 Eoin Reddan, 22 Ronan O'Gara, 23 Keith Earls.
Comments
Trader2 says...
Happy New Year everyone, I know it is early to be back for we SH pundits but heh the first Super practice matches have been played so let?s get into it.
Good game for the non-aligned, Ireland really caught the Welsh still munching on their Chrissy cakes and at 30-3 after 45 mins it was really done and dusted, let?s face it only the AB's can be up by 30 at HT and still lose (oh that?s only against the French of course). The Welsh skill level was abysmal; I lost count of how many times they passed behind the man. I saw more flying boots, stomping and general tap dancing in this game than in all the AB games last year, obviously that sort of thing is allowed when two NH teams play each other, probably fair enough as both teams made lying all over the ball an art form in this game. The scrum is obviously something both teams need to work on, they were a joke and should cheer up the Wannabies, probably a good price now for collapsed scrums during the Lions tour would be say 27-30.
Anyway great to be back, oh I see England have won again, two in a row they are on a roll, was going to watch it but saw that Quade Coopers cousin was playing for Scotland so gave it a miss. (Only joking)
Posted 03:48 03rd February 2013
norm says...
Good lord,! Just watching the game again and seriously, 20 mins in as sexton is preparing for a penalty, heaslip is on his arse having his white boots wiped clean. We lost focus in the second half, I wish I knew why?
Posted 00:27 03rd February 2013
rugbydaft says...
If this was new Zealand we would close the country and put the lights out ...... welsh rugby needs a complete overall and good sound leadership winning is what it's about and solid committed endeavour
Posted 23:34 02nd February 2013
mlbp says...
Great match to watch for the neutrals.
I loved Howley as a player. Pure class. As a coach I cannot see any positives.
Wales are definitely overrated as a team. Some players are good, but not that good, or as good as they looked like. They lack composure and regularity. They are capable of the best and the worst in each game. They are still a young side and they will get better, but at the time they need to learn a lot more.
Their first half was full of "no's" and "too much's": no ball retention, no creativity, no confidence, no defence, no guts, too much hesitation, too much imprecision.
Their second half was all guts and hard work, and their skills showed up, but it looked like their last match in autumn, a lot to do left for too late.
Ireland will have learnt a lot from this match. Their defence was superb, though they leaked the tries because the Welsh onslaught was outstanding and because they got tired after so much tackling. O'Brien gave his all in defence but made some blunders in attack. BOD was outstanding. O'Mahony is a force to reckon with.
If Ireland keep the composure of their first half they are serious contenders. Their match against England will definitely be a classic. Both teams have the physicality and the skills.
Posted 23:14 02nd February 2013
J_HDK says...
Most of the Welsh team looked like they didn't want to be there in the first half. Cuthbert was asleep for 40 minutes.
Earls showed why he should never be selected a centre yet again.
Best's yellow card was questionable. Murray's yellow card was absolutely correct... but surely that should then have been a penalty try?
Poite was the only reason the Welsh came back into that game. Welsh players making no attempt to stay on their feet when joining the ruck for most of the second half, particularly inside the Irish 22, Never penalised. It meant that the breakdown ceased to be a competition.
But I do hope the Welsh take some confidence from that second half and give the French a hard time next week
Posted 23:08 02nd February 2013
PatrickH says...
Boys, that was a cracker of a game.
I was literally breathless at the end of it, I felt like I'd played 80 mins when all I did was sit on the bar stool and shout at the tv.
Well done and thank you for putting what you put on the line for our entertainment.
For those of you abusing the people involved (apart from the ref) get some perspective will you?
March on now Ireland. And if we're still unbeaten after the French game I'll be in Rome.
Posted 22:37 02nd February 2013
missionary says...
An exciting game...nearly as much fun as reading some of the posts on here!!! The posters here serving it up to the ref, and the Welsh (and the English for some bizarre reason), are like some of the 12yr old NZ and SA'n posters. Gotta love the interweb.
Posted 22:35 02nd February 2013
georgesmith says...
Good win for the Irish
Posted 22:33 02nd February 2013
ArmchairGeneral says...
A brave call from Kidney would be to return the captaincy to BOD and say he should never have doubted his ability to deliver. He needed time and even without his Woolfhounds game has shown he's ready. No offence to Heaslip but when you have Irelands greatest captain in your ranks back fit you do what must be done. These may be his last games for Ireland, common PLEASE! And I'm a neutral..
Posted 22:26 02nd February 2013
Kent says...
Interesting to balance the well made comments of people like @dezz against the nonsense that people like @3in4 and @fish post
Posted 22:01 02nd February 2013
heart_of_oak says...
froggy73 - I'm English so I think I can say when it comes to Ireland and Wales, that I'm objective. And I have to say I didn't say any evidence to support your comment from the game. Are you having a go at Irish posters on this site ? If so, I don't see any more complaints from them about referees than I do from supportes of other nations.
I'm not sure what your point is. Ireland won today and did so brilliantly. It was a fabulous game of rugby with Wales coming back strongly but not quite doing enough. There was also truly great individual brilliance in this match, or, to quote Keith Wood, magic.
For me this is what we want to see and it's games like this that make us love rugby. Lets hope France and Italy can serve up something just as exciting.
Could you not have said something more positive ?
Posted 22:00 02nd February 2013
Dannyboy says...
And to think they want to change this tournament! Looking forward to see what challenge the Italians pose the French tomorrow.
Posted 21:52 02nd February 2013
froggy73 says...
I have never seen a game where Ireland play (lose or win) with no bashing at referees. You guys are like kids, it's laughable. You don't like Poite, you don't like Lawrence, you don't like Barnes and so on and so on.
At least Poite knows how to refer a scrum, which your fellows Clancy and Lacey have to clue about.
When I was 16 I also used to blame the ref... but I was 16.
Btw I watched the game and didn't find Poite terrible.
And well done Ireland (the players I mean, not the kids on here).
Posted 20:57 02nd February 2013
krieg says...
well done Ireland...but from my posi down in southern world the Aussies are likely to be quietly satisfied..it was the usual 6 nations with gusto aplenty and great heart but lacking accuracy and usage of the top 6 inches when the heat was on... am now convinced you need BOD to lead Lions if you're to have a hope
Posted 20:08 02nd February 2013
Mayhem says...
@3in4, your inferiority complex regarding the taffs is as obvious as it is sad.
@sextons on fire, your inferiority complex regarding the English is as obvious as it is sad. Why don't you both grow up and show your fellow rugby fans some respect? Your posts are beyond embarrassing and frankly I'm amazed they get past the moderators.
Posted 20:03 02nd February 2013
3in4 says...
@Mayhem
Nah mate, I'm not pathetic, just a realist. You can't spend 2 years gloating about flukey wins over Ireland than cry and whinge when the tables are turned. The 30-3 score after 50 mins actually flattered Wales. If you didn't have your good mate Poite to help you out as always, Ireland would have put about 50 or 60 on the board. Some absolutely despicable cheating from the taffs went unseen, not a single sinbinning for it, and we got done twice. Shocking home-town officiating.
Posted 19:49 02nd February 2013
whatisthis says...
@ lacroix
what a load of twaddle u talk. no reputations enhanced. healy scored a try and scrum was rock solid against one of the best tight-heads around. o brien made 23 tackles and probably a dozen carries. halfpenny was grood as well. outplayed kearney with a try and a try saving tackle on o brien at full charge...
Posted 19:40 02nd February 2013
davodiablo says...
Amazing skills fom Zebo ....enjoyable match for the neutral !
Posted 19:38 02nd February 2013
norm says...
Positives'
: again best was world class. Gilroy, good lesson for him but needs to find the grizzle and craft for that last yard. Zebo, continuesto grow, exciting player. Kearney looks rusty but hungry the former will pass quickly and finally BOD, no need to say any further.
Negatives:
Roman poites continued paddyphobia. But the rest ofbthe negatives can be laid at one issue: abject failure of leadership. I accept heaslip plays a less glamourous role as an 8 these days, fine, but would BOD or POC allowed us to bound about so listlessly? Our defence was amazing, but it should never have been tested so. Jamie, I am not convinced about your spot in the team and willing to be proven wrong, but on todays performance iwouldnt let you lead a congo line!
Posted 19:30 02nd February 2013
foxrock says...
Romain Poite delivered what is highly likely to be the worst refereeing performance of 2013. He gave both teams, though especially Ireland, much to be unhappy about. Wake up IRB and do something about the increasingly woeful standard of refereeing.
Despite the referee a highly entertaing match.
Posted 19:27 02nd February 2013