Ireland v Wales: Five takeaways as ‘connected defiance’ of visitors gives Irish ‘squeaky bum’ before Triple Crown ‘buzz’ confirmed
Jacob Stockdale leads the Ireland celebration after Jamie Osborne's try while, inset, Alex Mann typifies the Welsh resistance
Following a 27-17 win for Ireland over a gallant Wales at Aviva Stadium, here are our five takeaways from the Round Four Six Nations match in Dublin.
The top line
Friday night lights for the first time in Dublin in the Six Nations produced a gripping result-in-the-balance contest until the 77th minute that simply wasn’t in anyone’s pre-game script. Having lost 14 championship matches on the bounce and suffering 24 defeats in 26 Tests since Rugby World Cup 2023, Wales were supposed to be easy beats for the Triple Crown-chasing Irish – but they superbly weren’t.
With Andy Farrell’s charges butchering a catalogue of first-half chances, Wales swaggered off at the interval trailing by just two points – 12-10 – in a match where, but for the intervention of the TMO, they could have been 14-0 down just 11 minutes in and already finished.
That let-off triggered a fight-tooth-and-nail response, and although the Irish added an unconverted 37th-minute Jack Crowley try on to Jacob Stockdale’s converted sixth-minute opener, the most memorable bit of opening period action came with the clock in the red.
Few if any would have wagered a bet that loosehead Rhys Carre would leave Robert Baloucoune for dead for footwork and pace approaching the 22, but he incredibly did, turning the winger away from him with a canny push to the ribs and gleefully galloping in for the try that Dan Edwards, who had earlier scored a 17th-minute penalty, converted.
Having trailed Italy 10-5 at the break in Round Two, Ireland would have felt they had consigned this type of jeopardy to the bin with their swatting aside of England. However, the five XV changes they made (just one was because of injury) diluted their precision, enabling Wales to impress with their refusal to roll over on a cold night that didn’t help the handling.
You have to assume Farrell didn’t mince his half-time words as his Irish charges needed just three and a half minutes (well, add a couple more due to an unnecessary intervention from the over-zealous TMO) to see Jack Conan scoring a converted try despite Edwards’ best hold-up efforts.
Wales kept trucking and would have had their second try if Josh Adams hadn’t misjudged his pass to James Botham. That let-off, though, only delayed the squeaky Irish bum time, which was confirmed on 63 minutes when Botham got in on the scoring act with a pick and drive.
Edwards’ conversion cut the margin to two, and we were back to where we were at the interval, with the result definitely hanging in the balance and Ireland not looking too sure of themselves. It was the bench that eventually won them that awkward encounter with the Italians, and with Joe McCarthy and co ushered into the fray, the accelerator was pressed.
Jamie Osborne’s 68th-minute bonus-point try was a tonic, as was the yellow card brandished to Tomos Williams for illegally preventing Jamison Gibson-Park from scoring. The job wasn’t yet complete, as Crowley’s inexplicably missed conversion left just seven points between the sides – the same as it was versus Italy coming down the finishing straight.
It said it all about how keenly fought a game it was that Crowley went for the posts for the penalty that confirmed his team’s win three minutes from time. Well played, Wales.
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Welsh warriors
Damned lies and statistics. Running the eye over the three-round tally of missed tackles, it was incredulous to learn that Wales only ranked third worst, with 83 missed compared to Ireland’s 96 and Italy’s 98.
We had been giving Steve Tandy hell about his leaky Welsh defence, given that it was his area of expertise when assistant at Scotland, but with Dan Lydiate helping on an interim basis (and Peter Murchie now set to join in the summer), there was a super level of connected defiance in the way they inspiringly went about their business in Dublin.
The guts of 160 tackles were made, considerably more than the Irish, and it was a proud Alex Mann who topped the chart with 20 followed by a slew of teammates on 19, 17, 16 and so on. They genuinely played for the badge with a passion that surely will have lapsed fans turning up in big numbers for next weekend’s finale against Italy in Cardiff.
Come full-time, the Welsh had managed a monstrous 240 tackles, and while 31 of these were missed to leave them with an 89 per cent success rate that was lower than Ireland’s 95 per cent, the general level of tightness and togetherness wasn’t at all reflective of a losing team on a terrible run of results.
The excellent Mann trooped off having made an eye-watering 32 tackles, and also the feather in his cap of a first-half intercept with Ireland hammering at the line and seemingly destined to score.
Dafydd Jenkins was next best with a colossal 27 tackles, and Botham had just one less. Forget the result, Wales are an improving team.
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Triple buzz
There was a discernible feel of snobbery 13 months ago when Ireland beat Wales and collected the Triple Crown after just three rounds. ‘So what?’ was the general feeling that February Saturday evening in Cardiff, given the Grand Slam aspirations that a side led at the time by interim head coach Simon Easterby held, chasing an unprecedented hat-trick of Six Nations titles.
This very same Triple Crown prize they will contest next weekend will be viewed very differently, though. For Ireland to still have something to play for after the opening night hammering in France, and then the lucky home win over Italy, is encouraging for them.
Yes, the very different level of performance they managed at home to Wales compared to the fireworks they exploded in England won’t have their fans swooning from the rooftops, but the Friday night upside was that they demonstrated just about enough composure to get the job done despite the Welsh stickiness.
However, similar to what unfolded against Italy, the likes of Conan rolled up their sleeves to ensure there was no shock result. That’s what experienced sides do in times of real stress and strife, when passes aren’t sticking, and the home crowd is getting restless and impatient.
Whether they still have the championship title on the line next weekend is in the lap of the gods, or to be more precise, Finn Russell’s Scotland when they host the table-topping French on Saturday, but what is certain is that Ireland have a Triple Crown to play for.
That’s a prize that will be much better celebrated this time around if it comes to pass, unlike in February 2025. It’s been a winter of discontent for Farrell and co, and a trophy would be a timely reassurance that they aren’t as diabolical as they have been described away from that thrilling performance-for-the-ages hammering of England.
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Stop being precious, Wales
It was just last November, off the bench in Cardiff against Argentina, when Olly Cracknell finally made his Test debut at the old age of 31. For whatever reason, the Leicester player was never a favourite of Warren Gatland and seemed destined to stew in England without ever getting to wear the Welsh shirt.
He earned his fourth cap on Friday night in Dublin, arriving off the bench to produce a barnstorming effort that ultimately left him his team’s joint highest ball carrier along with skipper Dewi Lake. With Ireland having just scored to move 19-10 ahead, Tandy looked to his bench for energy and he definitely found it in his back-rower.
Cracknell relished every action in his 36 minutes on the pitch and it was a sharp reminder that Wales can’t be too fussy over players and have them consigned to the wilderness. They just don’t have that depth of riches at their disposal.
Kudos is also deserved by Carre, who was embarrassingly cut loose by Gatland in 2023 over a weight issue. Having returned to Saracens to play his club rugby, he too could have remained overlooked – but just look at him now.
We all know what he brings to the scrum and how invaluable his grunt can be at the breakdown, but his try was a worldie of an execution for a prop. How he convinced Baloucoune not to go all in on his was canny, and the run he then produced from the 22 to the try line was sublime.
The bottom line: Wales can’t be too precious and ignore players who are well capable of putting in a shift. Sub Cracknell and the all-dancing Carre are concrete proof of this.
An expletive or six…
Unlike at Twickenham, where he and his staff were out in the open and responding to every good action with fan-like jubilation, it’s a good job that Farrell operates in a sealed glass box when working at Aviva Stadium.
Otherwise, fans in the vicinity could have heard an expletive or six, such was the head coach’s level of frustration at seeing his team get dragged into an energy-sapping contest that they were capable of running away with early doors.
Away from the mistakes and the TMO interference that surely annoyed, there should be a satisfaction that a spine led by Conan, James Ryan, Stuart McCloskey and skipper Caelan Doris ensured Ireland weren’t going to be beaten here.
The penny has dropped with him that he needed to transition the squad and the team he chose to take on Wales was certainly an XV no one would have predicted last month when criticism about his stewardship was at its loudest.
As an international coach, selection is your No.1 skill, and he went from a Round One team in Paris consisting of 10 Leinster players, 2 Ulster, 2 Munster and 1 Connacht to a side featuring 8 Leinster, 5 Ulster and 2 Munster – including, most importantly, Crowley at out-half.
It’s proof that that the coach is willing to change things up. The Munster’s 10s goal kicking still needs improvement, but he does get Ireland on the front foot and this bonus-point win can’t be sniffed at by a team still struggling for consistency on a night when the debut of Nathan Doak was a nod to a brighter future.