Positive signs and happy returns

Ireland 35 Wales12

A Test match with a 20,000 crowd, live on television and against an experimental Welsh side with World Cup places of their own to play for, is not the ideal situation in which to find one's feet but Ireland gave O'Sullivan plenty to be optimistic about.

A convincing margin of victory earned with five converted tries, sparkling performances from Paul O'Connell, Alan Quinlan and Geordan Murphy, tidy ones from Kevin Maggs, David Humphreys, Peter Stringer and Malcolm O'Kelly, an encouraging return for David Wallace and, of course, the welcome return of team totem Keith Wood.

Add to that a manageable casualty list and it was easy to see why the coach was the picture of contentment and forgiving of the inevitable errors.

"I'm very happy to be honest," said O'Sullivan. "I had to remind myself at times not to get frustrated with some of the mistakes we made. It was the first game of the season and it's hard to start a rugby season without making mistakes and it's extra hard to start it with a Test game.

"It was an early season game, I just wanted to get the season started with a good performance and that's what I thought it was."

With right wing Shane Horgan suffering another torn quadriceps muscle in his thigh, the selectors had elevated Ulsterman Tyrone Howe to the starting line-up. And they were forced to make an even later change when Victor Costello succumbed to a calf strain on Friday evening, prompting the inclusion of Quinlan, who came in from outside the named 22 and leapfrogged Munster team-mate Wallace to claim a place in the first XV.

Quinlan would grab the opportunity with both hands, scoring the second try of the afternoon after O'Connell, had got Ireland up and running with the opening try in the fifth minute. Humphreys converted both, although there were some raised eyebrows in between when Wales found it all too easy to steal lineout ball and then stretch Ireland's defences from a ruck beneath the posts before captain Gareth Thomas had a simple run-in at the corner.

The conversion was missed by Iestyn Harris but Ireland had received their wake-up call and it was one-way traffic from there, although Quinlan's 31st minute try was the only moment to trouble the scoreboard operators. It

also led to the flanker earning a cut to the back of his head, allowing Wallace to finally get his chance, albeit as a blood replacement.

Harris' sin-binning in the 36th minute made matters even more lopsided and Ireland turned around at half-time already in the comfort zone at 14-5.

The interval saw the withdrawal due to a hamstring strain of Anthony Foley, which meant Wallace stayed on the field.

And the Garryowen man took just 47 seconds to show why he is once again a force to be reckoned with in the Irish back row. Welsh back row turned lock Michael Owen dithered at the restart and lost out to Wallace who charged upfield. Initially held up, the replacement touched down when the ball was recycled through Stringer, Humphreys and Anthony Horgan.

O'Kelly added another try to the forwards' tally in the 46th minute, before the Welsh sprang to life with their second try in the 67th, wing Garan Evans running on to a neat chip from full-back Nicky Robinson to score a try converted by Harris.

Ireland made the try count 5-2, however, when O'Connell grabbed his second try in injury-time, with Geordan Murphy converting to give the game the scoreline it deserved.

The usual flurry of substitutions had long broken Irish momentum, though, and the withdrawal of Wood after 68 minutes brought a great reception from the 20,000 crowd.

It will have been echoed by O'Sullivan. "It was 70 minutes, I thought, of good Test rugby, starting at the very deep end, which is a Test game, and it's great to get that under his belt," said the coach. "It's great that he's back and he got through it. For me this was the final proof. Until you go back and play I suppose there's always a slight bit of doubt but now the game is under his belt that's it, he's nailed it now."

As for the remaining 29 places in his squad to be named the day after the Murrayfield game against the Scots on September 5, O'Sullivan was more discreet.

"I got some information I needed on certain positions, all right," he said, "but obviously that's sub judice at the moment. There were a few things we saw today that were very valuable to us, from the point of view of selection and of how we're playing the game. I wouldn't say it's getting more complicated, I'd say it's getting clearer, which is the whole purpose of the three matches."

IRELAND: G Murphy, T Howe (G D'Arcy, 77), B O'Driscoll, K Maggs, A Horgan, D Humphreys (G Dempsey, 62), P Stringer (G Easterby, 77); R Corrigan, K Wood captain (S Byrne, 68), S Best (J Fitzpatrick, 62), M O'Kelly (D O'Callaghan, 68), P O'Connell, A Quinlan, K Gleeson, A Foley (D Wallace, h-t)

WALES: N Robinson, G Evans, J Robinson, I Harris, G Thomas captain, C Sweeney, D Peel; D Jones, M Davies (H Bennett, 67), B Evans (G Jenkins, 51), M Owen (V Cooper, 66), G Llewellyn, R Oakley, R Parks, A Popham.

Referee: Joel Dume (France).