Tight tussle: The Welsh again proved to be the Irish's nemesis
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Wales full-back Leigh Halfpenny kicked a 79th-minute penalty to break Irish hearts and steal a 23-21 Six Nations win in Dublin on Sunday.
Revenge was on the menu for Ireland following their World Cup exit against the Welsh, but defeat is what they were served at the Aviva Stadium where they have now lost three games on the trot.
At 21-15, it looked like Ireland's game for the taking with five minutes left on the clock and Wales lock Bradley Davies in the bin. However, the visitors had other ideas and cut the deficit to a one-point ball game through a George North try.
Halfpenny missed the conversion to take the lead, but held his nerve to slot over a last-gasp penalty four minutes later - after Stephen Ferris was sin-binned for a tip tackle on Ian Evans - to deny the Irish and help open his team's Six Nations account with an upset win.
Wales played with an energy that Ireland failed to match for the majority of the first half, and were desperately unlucky not to have a try awarded early on by the TMO who - after several replays - decided it was "inconclusive" after a sea of red jerseys barged over the line.
But the Welsh weren't to be denied again by the TMO following centre Jonathan Davies's well-worked try in the corner that was set up by Rhys Priestland, but which the pivot failed to convert.
Priestland, in doubt for this match before he was declared fit to play on Friday, showed no signs of discomfort from the knee injury that kept him out of action for two weeks with ball in hand.
However, he was off-target with the boot after missing his second shot at goal with a penalty attempt from bang in front that would have extended his team's lead to five points.
Instead, it was Ireland who managed to find some spark produced from a rare attack inside Wales' 22 that started with Tommy Bowe breaking the line and ended with hooker Rory Best crossing the whitewash for a crucial score before half-time.
Sexton added the extras from far out and Ireland went into the half-time sheds 10-5 in front.
Ireland opened up the second half in the same fashion as they did the first courtesy of another three points from Sexton.
Halfpenny, who had taken on the kicking duties, landed a long-range attempt in reply and centre Davies capitalised on North's bulldozing run for a superb second try.
Halfpenny converted but Wales' lead was only brief as Sexton booted a tricky penalty and, when Bradley Davies was sin-binned for tipping Donnacha Ryan on his head, Bowe soon scored in the corner after taking a magnificent pass from his pivot.
Sexton missed the conversion and a penalty - both difficult kicks - and the irrepressible North crashed over only for Halfpenny to miss the conversion before accepting the second invite after Ferris's indiscretion.
Man of the match: For Ireland, Tommy Bowe created one and scored one, while Jamie Heaslip was the pick of the Irish forwards. For Wales, Ryan Jones ran hard and offered Wales leadership when Sam Warburton had left the pitch through injury and Jonathan Davies richly deserved his two-try haul. However, wing George North was undoubtedly Wales' star man. He bullied Ireland's backline at will, showing superb skill setting up Davies's second try and tremendous strength for his own five-pointer. Who needs Shane Williams when you got this guy out wide?
Moment of the match: Take your pick... Davies' second try... Bowe's five-pointer... North's score... Halfpenny's last-gasp penalty. This game was full of them!
Villain of the match: There's two of them - Bradley Davies and Stephen Ferris, with the latter's brain implosion ultimately proving very costly indeed.
The scorers:
For Ireland:
Tries: Best, Bowe
Cons: Sexton
Pens: Sexton 3
For Wales:
Tries: J Davies 2, North
Cons: Halfpenny
Pens: Halfpenny 2
Ireland: 15 Rob Kearney, 14 Tommy Bowe, 13 Fergus McFadden, 12 Gordon D'Arcy, 11 Andrew Trimble, 10 Jonathan Sexton, 9 Conor Murray, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 Sean O'Brien, 6 Stephen Ferris, 5 Paul O'Connell (capt), 4 Donncha O'Callaghan, 3 Mike Ross, 2 Rory Best, 1 Cian Healy.
Replacements: 16 Sean Cronin, 17 Tom Court, 18 Donnacha Ryan, 19 Peter O'Mahony, 20 Eoin Reddan, 21 Ronan O'Gara, 22 David Kearney.
Wales: 15 Leigh Halfpenny, 14 Alex Cuthbert, 13 Jonathan Davies, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 George North, 10 Rhys Priestland, 9 Mike Phillips, 8 Toby Faletau, 7 Sam Warburton, 6 Ryan Jones, 5 Ian Evans, 4 Bradley Davies, 3 Adam Jones, 2 Huw Bennett, 1 Rhys Gill.
Replacements: 16 Ken Owens, 17 Paul James, 18 Andy Powell, 19 Justin Tipuric, 20 Lloyd Willians, 21 James Hook, 22 Scott Williams.
Referee: Wayne Barnes (England)
By Dave Morris
Comments
howrtings says...
@ makemehappy:
He did what he did because he's a short tempered bully, who couldn't take being rucked of the ball fairly by Ryan - simple as.....
I really hope he gets what's coming to him, that type of thuggery has no place on any pitch, let alone a Rugby pitch.
Posted 15:12 06th February 2012
makemehappy says...
It is odd that no-one is commenting on why Bradley Davies might have done what he did, or the fact that if the officials have addressed that issue, the red card offence might not have occured!
Posted 13:22 06th February 2012
Ramage says...
Well after my comments about the rubbish served up by Scotland and England, as expected this game was far better and worth watching. Yes there were mistakes but both teams had periods where good rugby was played. Wales have proved on other occasions they last the full game and have pulled off some good wins late in the game. Interesting as a neutral to see some of the comments about the tip tackles. Far be for me to come to the aid of Barnes but he clearly told Pearson he did not see the first incident and asked for Pearson's recommendation which was yellow. So anyone who believes it should have been red needs to take issue with Pearson not Barnes. As for the the second decision it is laughable to claim that no offence took place seems the green in the eyes fails in any objectivity. However these decisions now clearly raise the issue of whether thse tackles should get a red card or be over to the referee to decide whether it be yellow. It now seems Rolland has set a mark which not all referees agree and so opens International referees to the claims of inconsistency. Perhaps I need to contact Paddy O'Brien to find out who he instructed Barnes to let win the game as it is well known all the International referees use Paddy to help decide who should win. We know this because we are told continuously how corrupt and spineless all our top referees are. Seriously though this issue needs to be sorted and does that mean the next time Rolland rules on this law he MUST award a red card? Interesting to see other referees have ruled only yellow cards so there is already a difference of opinion or maybe all referees are ruling on the transgression as they see it. This whole situation needs some clarification.
Posted 13:06 06th February 2012
howrtings says...
@ jersey7 - I have to agree and disagree with you.
Firstly - I agree 100% about the defense line speed. Why we went for a drift defense against such a big back line amazes me. All we were doing was giving them time to pick up speed, pick there line, and they are so big it was 10-15 metres each time. Against such a big back line, who's handling under pressure leaves them down, you need to be up fast and close the space down.
Secondly - I get the impression that you are of the opinion, if there's no true 7 then go with whats there. That's ok perhaps for World Cup year, but what the next 3 or 4 years are about is developing a squad where we tick all the boxes, and it is obvious that the game in it's current format needs an out an out 7. In my opinion, I do think Peter O'Mahony could develop into and excellent international #7, as could Dominic Ryan, but we won;t know until we try them.
Please Deccie - try and develop players to play the way we need to - if all else fails, we have tried the current combinations so often, we can always fall back on them
Posted 12:25 06th February 2012
APV1 says...
I enjoyed the match, especially the nail-biting climax.
What I'm not enjoying is the football supporter-esque ref-slating, which is starting to dominate almost every thread.
If the players don't make mistakes, the refs have very little to do. So they have to make tough calls and sometimes get them wrong. Stop whinging like a footballer and accept it.
Let's enjoy the game for what it was - great entertainment and enormous fun. Let's analyse the players' and teams' performances and debate the merits of their selection. Let's debate the inconsistent instruction, interpretation and enforcement of the laws, on the back of the IRB rulings. But let's give the human being with the whistle a little more lee-way for error.
Posted 11:34 06th February 2012
hougiebear says...
Guys Triple Crown and Grand Slam are gone. The Championship is not in our hands anymore so effectively that is gone. The problem with Ireland is the team tries to play defensively, give the other team the ball and defend until the other team makes a mistake. Doesn't work anymore - not with the players we have. No province plays like the national side and you can see it's alien to these players. Ireland should have been looking to counter everything, and dictating the game but too many times we rely on defense which against good attacking players is very much a 50-50 gamble. We need a backs coach, fast. Dish out the dough to bring one in and work on our attacking and counterattack. Trimble is a defensive wing, and Bowe is not tuned in. With no honours left to play for, time to give others a shot. If Dave Kearney, Simon Zebo, Peter O'Mahoney and a few others throw a few shockers then let them. We won't win in Paris so might aswell blood a few players in a baptism of fire.
This will not happen though and it isn't Kidney's conservatism, the IRFU is completely short term result based orientated. They want Ireland to be in the top two of the 6Nations every year to ensure a nice healthy band wagon to help the underfed cash cow instead of formulating a 4 year plan to develop a good strength in depth squad. This my friends is the truth. Bringing in any other coach will not fix it, he will be subjected to the same orders and stringent policies regarding short term results as EoS and DK. Bring in Schmit, I want to see how the IRFU strangle his coaching technique with their bullsh*t policies and governance
Posted 10:31 06th February 2012
ThinkingGame says...
I thought Ireland were pretty good yesterday. They should have been higher in the table last year, but they were beaten comfortably at the QF stage of the World Cup again. It would be a mistake now to take the drama of losing a game by fewer points than they deserved to and turning it into a crisis by making wholesale changes. There's nothing fundamentally wrong with that team, it's just at an unfortunate bridging point between the decline of a very good side, and the creation of a new one.
As to Wales, that's the most composed performance they've put in since 1978. With the disruption in mind, it was hugely impressive, even if the concentration was still way off the top four sides in the world, and Priestland had lost all rhythm from the tee. Great game to watch, better to have played in, fantastic to win.
Posted 09:43 06th February 2012
Carpelone says...
I would go with this backline.
Reddan, Sexton, Trimble/Earls, Downey, Bowe, Fitzgerald, Kearney.
Posted 09:42 06th February 2012
Carpelone says...
@ bluelion
Spot on. I think Ireland's management should be questioned and reviewed asap.
Not sure about Murray having a stinker, he was in charge of Roberts and he put in some nice tackles.
Posted 09:39 06th February 2012
Carpelone says...
One more comment.
Deciding to kick from 51 mt was the wrong decision. Go to touch, win the ball and land the killer blow phase after phase. Ireland almost never walk away from 22 without points.
Even though Wales was impressive, the win was at hand, should Ireland have played to their strengths
Posted 09:32 06th February 2012
jersey7 says...
I cant understand all the talk about O'Mahony being Irelands only 7 - for starters he plays like a 6.5 and O'Brien & Ferris already match that description, secondly he's untested properly at provincial level never mind stick him in for an international - people get a grip!
Ferris yellow was harsh but as it happened I was cringing at the repercussions, it was a penalty regardless of whether a card was issued - thats the law these days!
More of a focus should be on how poor irelands defensive linespeed was - it was oap slow - The welsh made pretty much 60 metres without any fuss to get in the position of a winning kick. The Irish defence all day was fairly pedestrian, a lot of soak tackles which lose ground - where has the intensity shown against australia gone, bring that back and then we will see Ireland at their best. The backline really needs to sharpen up - it is getting bullied, Sexton doesnt look as confident as he does playing for Leinster, perhaps he's told to play quite differently?! Either way, the backline needs a reshuffle, pack stay as it is - defensive line speed will put pressure on opponents and therefore lead to turnovers - turnovers lead to quick ball when defensives are not organised giving a perfect opportunity to get great broken field runners involved, bowe, kearney, o'brien, heaslip, ferris etc...
Posted 09:19 06th February 2012
jamesliveinhope says...
@rugbyphile - Matt Banahan at the same age, same pace, same size, same hands broke many a tackle in the same way as North and similar offloading skills. North's problems will come when he matures starts to lose (a) the surprise factor and (b) some pace (big men tend to get bigger if they are still maturing physically).
Posted 09:06 06th February 2012
montyRN says...
Great game, with a few positives for Ireland - certainly POC's form, general back row play and Rob Kearney (how has he not broken a bone or 5 taking high balls 6 feet up in the air, landing on his head / ribs / back?)
All told, I thought Wales did desrve it, but it was a shame that it was under circumstances that are being deemed Barnes' fault.
My two-penneth - not sure who the assistant ref was for the Davies yellow, but Barnes was clearly heard saying "I didn't see it, tell me what happened, what is your recommendation?", to which the response was the linesman's explanation, and recommendation for a yellow card.
Would have preferred to have Barnes ask his linesman why, if a tip and drop on the head, it wasn't a red, but the linesman did only recommend yellow. Personal feeling was that it should have been a red - off the ball, replay showed no regard for safety - pretty thuggish from Davies.
Ferris yellow - Barnes made a punchy call on this one, and I think a harsh decision BUT bear in mind he got one look at it, at full speed, and at only one angle. All of us armchair critics got super slow motion, multi angle, unhindered views of the tackle, and although I think it was incorrect with the benefit of seeing it 6 times from different angles, I'm happy to side with Barnes on this.
On the pitch, ref made the call, which unfortunately wasn't correct concerning the yellow - I still think it was a penalty though, which still would have allowed the winning kick.
Like the idea of big "carding" calls being referred to the TMO from @TVaddict.
With hindsight, think Davies should be in line for a citing & a lengthy ban, Ferris no case to answer, no ban.
Posted 08:54 06th February 2012
peachlegs says...
I am in disbelief people asking for ferris to move to the second row!The man is the is one of the best 6s in the world!There is no out and out fetcher of international quality in ireland so your obviously going to play bother obrien and ferris. If Ferris played in the row he would not get the opportunity of running in open field anywhere near as often. Lets take an out and out world class 6 and stick him in the row...great logic!If suddenly a fetcher suddenly appears then we think about the dilema and that would mean dropping either obrien or ferris, at the moment it would be obrien as ferris is in fantastic form. What difference would playing a fetcher have made yesterday anyway??????.....None at all as warburton would have eaten any second rate fetcher 7 (which is all we have) for breakfast therefore rendering the debate useless!Ferris and obrien both outstanding players, no 7 to mention of...therefore easy decision.....play them both!
Posted 08:04 06th February 2012
Stoigen says...
I find it hard to believe that Ferris' tip tackle was deemed as bad as Davies' considering the latter's was worse and off the ball. The latter's was red card worthy and I just found it hard to see how the former's tackle was dangerous.
Also get Gordon D'Arcy out of the side he runs laterally all day and never hits up the game has past him at test level. We need strong runners in the backs someone like James Downey could do that but Kidney didn't select him before so why not now? Any chance of a Grand Slam or an irrelevant Triple Crown have gone.
Posted 02:40 06th February 2012
davidm05 says...
Darcy sadly passed his best. we need a 12. A big bruiser of a modern day 12... James downey!! he is on form and should be at least in the squad... but out of sight out of mind. bowe can play 13 better than any other option we have. earls and trimble on the wings. i agree with earlier comments about earls he is absolutely a wing. not strong enough in defencefor centre. Davies would have shown that today. sexton is good but on current form o'gara is the out half of choice. In the pack we need a 7 in a bad way. would love to see o'brien go to 6 heaslip 8 possibly o'clock many at 7 and try spotting ferris in beside o'connell.
Davies should have got red prob will be cited and miss rest of championships. but i don't believe ferris' should have been penalised.poor reffing all round.
Posted 01:31 06th February 2012
ciaran1792 says...
Yeah that's right we were beaten at home. Now wales had injury's if we were beaten by replacements what does that say about us. I want that unimaginative nob head who is still talking about his GS in 09's head on a platter. He had the chance to bring Joe Schmidt as an attack coach over the summer when Gafney left and Schmidt said he would do it if asked. Il take nothing from Wales they beet us fair and square. My heart sank as every time we throw away victory. I dont know about you but when the green of Ireland comes on no province matters and im sick of hearing well the provinces are going well that's not god damn good enough not even close.To see the lack of pride the men in green bring to the jersey no passion no rage now Bullocking runs it disgusted me you put that green jersey on you win no god damn excuse were a small country who has always punched above our weight its about time to reach our apex. If were faveourites we win im sick of only wining with the underdog tag it agitates me to a point of rage. On a bright note Rob Kearney had a stormer.
Posted 01:07 06th February 2012
tommor84 says...
Very disapointing from an Irish perspective. The Irish defense in particular was very poor and I thought they made the Welsh look good, not taking anything away from Wales who were impressive. While it is frustrating to see this Irish team underperform again I would'nt get too carried away, however Kidney's conservatism is worrying
I would love to see O'Gara at 10, Sexton 12, and Bowe 13, a lot more pace and physicality is required in the midfield. Also Donnacha Ryan should start instead of O'Callaghan. While O Brien maybe not a traditional openside, there aren't really any other viable options here, to suggest Peter O' Mahony, who is completely untested at this level in that position, as an alternative is ridiculous.
Posted 00:41 06th February 2012
TVaddict says...
Great game! Full of free flowing running rugby.
Ireland have some great ball carriers in their forwards,but without O'Driscoll they lacked any real penetration in the backs.
Wales managed to keep their form the world cup, which I totally did not expect, and were scintillating. Brilliant play from North, Davies, Roberts, Priestland. Although, the lineout was pretty shocking for international standards.
However, even as a neutral, I feel Bradley Davies should have got a red card. If there is any justice then he will be cited and get a 4-12 week ban. Also on this note I don't think the Ferris incident was even a penalty. He was punished for lifting the player off the ground, however the player clearly always had a foot on the ground, so that ruling does not apply. Terrible refereeing, it ruined the world cup and I hope it won't ruin the 6 nations. The fact that this is the second time in two years that Ireland have had terrible calls against them playing against Wales must have some Irish conspiracy theorists going!
But more seriously, maybe the ref should be allowed to go to the television match official on all calls that would result in a yellow or red card? That would help with the inconsistent nature of the officiating.
Anyway, I still think France will win this year.
Posted 23:31 05th February 2012
JoseArtigas says...
My skin cannot develop pigment, I wish I could have a tan like Mike Phillips!
Posted 23:29 05th February 2012