Wales 19 Ireland 13: match report
Read a full match report of the Six Nations game between Wales and Ireland at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff on Saturday March 12, 2011.
Catalyst: Mike Phillips's try changed the whole face of the game Photo: GETTY IMAGES
By Paul Ackford, at the Millennium Stadium 7:30PM GMT 12 Mar 2011
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It doesn’t get much better than this. There were errors. It was messy. But for sheer unadulterated tension this took the biscuit.
Ireland, enraged by a mistake by the officials who wrongly allowed Wales to take a quick line-out which resulted in the game’s decisive score, were pounding away inside the final minute. It was rugby at its most visceral. Big men bashing into each other with no thought given to their safety.
It seemed inconceivable that Wales would not crack. But John Yapp got into Cian Healy to force a turnover and Wales held on to record a victory which was a credit to their pack and their resolve as a side. Better teams than Wales have folded under that kind of onslaught. It might be the making of them.
Ireland can have no excuses. True, they were on the wrong end of a bad decision but this was a side hanging on in there. They did marvellously well to get back into the match but the old guard are fading and they lack the all-round edge and energy of the better sides.
Remarkably, Ireland were 13-9 in front at half time. Remarkable because one of the more intriguing aspects of the first period was the lack of yardage gained by Paul O'Connell and Donncha O’Callaghan.
For years O’Connell has been the go-to man up front for Ireland, with Brian O’Driscoll providing the rallying point behind. O’Driscoll still has the magic. The way he finished off Ireland’s try after Tommy Bowe had forced his way between jamie roberts and Alun Wyn Jones was exemplary: unfussy, accurate, clinical.
But O’Connell now seems to be raging against the dying of the light. He still has presence, able to nick the odd line-out, but it was the bullocking runs of Bradley Davies, Roberts and Sam Warburton which were most damaging in the context of the match.
Ireland’s get-out, as Wales came at them with intensity early on, was to concede penalties. They have done this all championship, and it is a sign of a side on the rack.
The match was only 27 minutes old when referee Jonathan Kaplan warned O’Driscoll that any more penalties would result in the sin bin. That is an indication of how clever Ireland were. They always stopped short of the indiscretion which would cripple them.
It was all rather tough on Wales because for most of the match they played most of the rugby. With their big forwards in thunderous mood, they launched some exquisite attacks down Ireland’s right flank which, were it not for some outstanding defence by Bowe and Luke Fitzgerald, might have brought Wales the reward their domination of territory merited.
The game burst into controversy 10 minutes into the second half – moments after Jonathan Sexton had replaced Ronan O’Gara. Sexton’s first act was to kick the ball out on the full and from a quickly taken line-out Mike Phillips sped down the touchline to score.
O’Connell was incandescent with fury, complaining to referee Kaplan that Wales had used a different ball from the one booted off the field by Sexton and that Kaplan should consult his television match official. Instead, Kaplan checked with his touch judge Peter Allan.
“Was it the correct ball?” Kaplan asked. “Yes,” said Allan when it patently wasn’t.
“Games hang in the balance on decisions, everyone is human and wrong calls are made sometimes, but some are unforgivable,” O’Driscoll
said afterwards.
Paddy Power wiped out the pain of hard-done-by punters by returning more than £175,000 worth of losing bets.
Moments later Fitzgerald appeared to score at the other end for Ireland only for Kaplan to pull Ireland back for a penalty in front of the posts which Sexton missed. It was a desperate couple of minutes for Sexton, Ireland and the match officials. Not for Wales, though.
With James Hook’s conversion from the touchline, a four-point deficit at half time had turned into a three-point advantage.
A deep sense of injustice fuelled Ireland for the rest of the match. Sean O’Brien clattered into bodies and O’Driscoll drifted across the Welsh defensive line searching for an opening.
But Wales made their tackles and a Phillips run engineered the position for a penalty which Hook banged over.
Replacements flooded on to the pitch to disrupt the rhythm of both teams but the full-throated participation of the crowd was never less than total.
Wales surfed the passion and held on. In a match which installed Warren Gatland as the longest-serving Welsh coach, their season was firmly back on track.
Match details
Scores: First half: 0-5 O’Driscoll Try, 0-7 O’Gara Con, 3-7 Hook Pen, 6-7 Hook Pen, 9-10 Halfpenny Pen, 9-13 O’Gara Pen. Second half: 14-13 Phillips Try, 16-13 Hook Con, 19-13 Hook Pen.
Wales: L Byrne; L Halfpenny, J Roberts, J Davies, S Williams; J Hook, M Phillips; P James, M Rees, C Mitchell, B Davies, A-W Jones, D Lydiate, S Warburton, R Jones.
Substitutes: R Hibbard (for Rees 72), J Yapp (for Mitchell 12), J Thomas (for R Jones 59), R McCusker, D Peel, S Jones, M Stoddart.
Ireland: L Fitzgerald; T Bowe, B O’Driscoll, G D’Arcy, K Earls; R O’Gara, E Reddan; C Healy, R Best, M Ross, D O’Callaghan, P O’Connell, S O’Brien, D Wallace, J Heaslip.
Substitutes: S Cronin (for Best 76), T Court (for Ross 69), L Cullen (for O’Callaghan 75), D Leamy (for Heaslip 69), P Stringer (for Reddan 1), J Sexton (for O’Gara 49), P Wallace (for Fitzgerald 72).
Referee: J Kaplan (South Africa).
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