By Morgan Cerrone
In an interview before kick-off Brian O’Driscoll had said it’s highly like this would be his last Six Nations; but after watching that 80 minutes of rugby fans everywhere will be hoping that isn’t the case.
The first half was one that will give Rob Howley nightmares, however in that Wales had a disaster first 40 Ireland by contrast played out of their skins, everything clicked into place with experience and new talent coming together to create rugby that for its duration meant Wales could only try to hold tight.
From the kick off, Declan Kidney’s men looked the more confident team; they’d clearly reflected on mistakes from 2012 and played more openly with nothing looking forced. Craig Gilroy showed why the Irish have good reason to feel confident about this year’s Six Nations running good support lines and looking comfortable under the high ball. Wales looked nervous and seemed to play within themselves with perhaps their recent defeats unnerving them as they weren’t short of leadership or experience - Adam Jones returned to a front row which between them held 237 caps.
Despite this the Welsh scrum never dominated and provided the Irish with an attacking platform for Simon Zebo’s try. It displayed the first moment of brilliance from O’Driscoll who drew in Cuthbert providing Zebo with enough room to cross the white-wash. Ireland played to their strengths and their tails were up – playing with quick hands they created space out wide for a more expansive and dynamic attack and it meant in the first 20 minutes the Irish dominated and didn’t allow Wales to play, leaving them with slow ball.
Sexton added level headed direction, knowing a penalty was coming he went for the drop goal which he missed, but in doing so secured 3 points anyway with the penalty, allowing the Irish to slowly creep away on the scoreboard and confirming to an on-looking Warren Gatland why he’s the main contender for the Lions no.10 shirt.
Nothing epitomised how well it came together for the Irish in the first 40 than the Cian Healy try. Rory Best showed some great ball-in-hand skill and off loaded to Zebo who, after dropping the ball behind kicked it up of his back heel, caught it and off loaded to allow Healy to crash over the line.
Welsh ball continued to be slow and Ireland had stopped the Welsh game plan – the man mountain George North got his first touch at 34 minutes which proved to be a decisive tactic – and the last 5 minutes of the first half saw Wales finally apply some pressure. Once again though Ireland showed that they had done their homework, making tackles as early as possible to try to stop Welsh momentum and the best passage of play for Wales ultimately came to a pointless end as Rory Best forced Wales to not release, failing to convert pressure into points.
At first the second half began in almost the same fashion as the first and Irish fans were still dreaming of the crushing score line as revenge for the last few encounters when O’Driscoll crossed the whitewash. Once again using the scrum to attack from, Wales missed critical tackles and allowed Ireland’s all-time leading try scorer to go over or his 46th try in the jersey. Is there such thing as getting too far ahead? Quite possibly since from that point Wales decided they were going to play and the game changed completely.
Tipuric made his presence felt from the bench immediately and Wales began to make the hard yards; but at 46 minutes in with a 27 point deficit Wales left themselves too much to do with the score line now 30-3 to Ireland. Alex Cuthbert’s try came from patience and discipline and was wonderfully well read, the pace ensuring that an arm from Keith Earls wouldn’t be enough to stop him going over. Halfpenny converted and the Millennium Stadium crowd duly responded as the volume for the home side began to increase.
They say rugby is a game of momentum and it had certainly swung the way of the Welsh, at 50 minutes Ireland’s defence was again tested allowing O’Driscoll to once again produce something quite fantastic; knocking Mike Phillips’s hand and stalling the pass he allowed Ireland to gain back possession camped in their 22 enabling them to clear their lines. The Welsh line out functioned to much better effect during the second half especially as Tipuric continued to make his presence felt there.
Ireland tried to slow Welsh ball resulting in Rory Best seeing yellow and making it easier for Wales to stretch the defence, playing Ireland at their own game with quick hands and Halfpenny going over in the corner. However Halfpenny missed the critical conversion kick that would ultimately seal Wales’s fate; for they remained 3 scores away with the scoreboard now at 30-15 in Ireland’s favour.
Wales had realised that by kicking long they were putting Ireland under pressure as they were unable to diffuse the kicks. And no sooner had Rory Best returned Conor Murray saw yellow meaning the Irish had an almost consecutive period of 20 minutes with only 14 men which due to indiscipline, meant at times Wales failed to take full advantage – a knock on after Conor Murray’s yellow meant that Wales couldn’t make another period of sustained pressure count.
Mitchell went over the whitewash for Wales as the clock reached 75 minutes but Wales had left it too late being 8 points behind and the missed earlier conversion very costly, more from the psychological aspect than the perhaps the difference of 2 points. The final whistle marked a turnaround for Wales and a poor half for Ireland.
For Wales Halfpenny was consistent in his performance throughout making critical tackles, while Welsh fans will probably be a little perplexed as to why Howley didn’t play Tipuric for the full 80 since his work rate was phenomenal along with his overall impact from the bench. Faletau was also very consistent in his performance and periods of sustained pressure saw the no.8 making the hard yards and getting over the gain line, while to not many would have thought a performance like that from Ian Evans would be possible after not playing for 11 weeks, consistently carrying and making the hard yards.
Ireland’s captain had a great game and certainly led by example making a huge amount of tackles in the second half inspiring his side to hold on, and no doubt the win away at the Millennium Stadium will give the Irish huge confidence to facing England at home next. The effect of 8 successive defeats on Wales will make Paris perhaps an even more hostile environment than it already is and make next week a very unenviable task for them. Man of the Match Brian O’Driscoll shone for Ireland providing moments of utter brilliance, like his pass directly to Cuthbert knowing he’d miss it allowing Zebo to run on and collect it at speed and go over for the try.
O’Driscoll inspired a very solid first half performance which saw the forwards gaining the hard yards and forcing turnovers, mistakes and penalties from the Welsh. They’d done their homework, testing the Welsh blitz defence by playing deep so that they could create space and have the extra man advantage, and it proved to be the difference as Wales will stew on their failure to compete in the first half giving themselves too much to do later, contrasted by the spirit of the Irish who after an immense first half will surely be looking to welcome the English to Dublin with great confidence.
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4 February 2013
