Ireland finished off their Rugby World Cup preparations with a brilliant 19-10 win over Wales at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
The game was a massive improvement for the Irish as they sent head coach Joe Schmidt and captain Rory Best off with a perfect result in what was the duos final home game for Ireland. It also left Ireland heading to the tournament in Japan as the No 1 team in the world rankings.
Wales dominated the possession early on and
were nearly in for a try with only two minutes on the clock when Leigh
Halfpenny had a shot at goal but missed.
George North nearly barrelled over a couple
of minutes late, but Ireland held them out.
The home side began to grow into the game
after some impressive defensive work and took their chance when it came on 20
minutes as they gave up a chance to take 3-points in the opposition 22, going
for the corner instead.
James Ryan took the line-out and after a
few phases Conor Murray flung the ball out to the backs with Jonny Sexton providing
a beautiful pass to Rob Kearney, who held off Jonathan Davies to barge over for
the first try of the game.
Sexton slotted home the conversion from the
left-hand side to make it 7-0. To add to Wales’ worries Rhys Patchell went off
injured as the game restarted.
However, the Welsh came back following that
score with Halfpenny thumping a kick over from the left-hand side of the pitch
just inside the Irish 10-metre line with 25 minutes gone.
Replacement out-half Dan Biggar seemed to
steady the away team’s attack and made an interception on halfway on 30 minutes,
racing to the try-line only to be held up.
Although from the resulting five-metre scrum Wales struck with centre Hadleigh Parkes bursting through the Irish line to score a try beside the posts. Halfpenny tipped the conversion over to make it 10-7 to Wales, and that’s how they went in at the half-time whistle.
Ireland dominated the second-half in both
terms of territory and possession and went ahead again on 51 minutes after
camping in the Welsh 22.
Following a number of penalties, the home
side took a scrum which they went through a couple of phases before a huge carry
from Tadhg Furlong lead to a try. Sexton knocked over the conversion from the left
to make it 14-10.
Ireland continued to put pressure on the away team and got in for their third try of the game just before the hour mark as man of the match Ryan powered over the line. Sexton failed with the kick this time around, but Ireland opened up a nine-point lead.
They stayed in the Welsh half for most of
the remainder of the match, as they pounded away at the defence, which led to a
yellow card for Adam Beard, but the score remained the same as it finished
19-10.
Both teams will now head to Japan for the
Rugby World Cup where they will be hoping to be in the mix for the Webb Ellis Cup
come the start of November.
Player Ratings:
Ireland –
Rob Kearney (7), Jordan Larmour (8), Robbie
Henshaw (7), Bundee Aki (7), Keith Earls (6), Jonathan Sexton (8), Conor Murray
(8); Cian Healy (6), Rory Best (7)(capt), Tadhg Furlong (8), James Ryan (9), Jean
Kleyn (6), CJ Stander (7), Josh van der Flier (7), Jack Conan (6)
Replacements (7)
Wales –
Leigh Halfpenny (6), George North (6),
Jonathan Davies (7), Hadleigh Parkes (7), Josh Adams (5), Rhys Patchell (5),
Tomos Williams (6); Wyn Jones (6), Elliot Dee (6), Tomas Francis (6), Jake Ball
(5), Alun Wyn Jones (6) (CAPT), Aaron Wainwright (6), Justin Tipuric (6), Ross
Moriarty (7)
Replacements (5)
