U21’s show way as Welsh outclassed

Ireland 30, Wales 19

Wales travelled as Grand Slam champions, however they were never in the hunt against a far better drilled and more intelligent Irish side.

They won the try count 4-2 with the Welsh brace coming late in the game with the issue beyond doubt.

The Irish were confirming the favourable impression they made when holding a powerful French side to a 20-20 draw at Limoges seven days previously. The Cork Constitution pair Denis Fogarty and Shane O’Connor made a major impact up front along with skipper David Gannon of Blackrock and number eight Jamie Heaslip of Trinity while nippy

Constitution scrum-half Tomas O’Leary and wingers Richard Lane of UCC and Tommy Bowe of Queens were always a threat.

Ireland ruthlessly took advantage of the fourth minute yellow carding of Welsh prop John Yapp for throwing a punch by crossing for two tries while he was in the bin.

The first was touched down by Heaslip after a superb attack in which seven players handled. Queens out-half Gareth Steenson hit the post with his conversion attempt but judged the diagonal wind perfectly when Blackrock second-row and captain David Gannon finished off another fine movement on twelve minutes.

Wales were in disarray contributing to their own troubles with a series of handling mistakes. But Celtic Warriors centre Lee Thomas settled them with a penalty and Yapp’s return steadied the scrum.

Ireland remained the dominant force as Steenson landed a penalty before John Hearty gathered a poor pass on the bounce and deceived the Welsh defence to dive between the posts. Steenson added the points.

Ireland were sitting pretty at 22-3 but Thomas kicked two further penalties while Irish hooker Denis Fogarty was yellow carded for a technical infringement.

Wales were by no means out of contention turning to play with the wind at their backs with 13 points separating the sides. But Ireland struck quickly with another Steenson penalty and it was all over on 48 minutes when Bowe showed a clean pair of heels to the Welsh defence from ten metres inside his own half and scorched over in the left corner.

Substitute scrum-half Richard Rees of Swansea darted over for the first Welsh try on 67 minutes and when O’Leary became the second Irishman to see yellow, the visitors were set for a bright finish. Rees ran in for his second try after 76 minutes but Ireland played out time without difficulty.

IRELAND: A. Finn (Dolphin); R. Lane (UCC),

J. Hearty (Blackrock College), G. Telford (Dungannon), T. Bowe (Queens Univ); G. Steenson (Queens), T. O’Leary (Cork Con); J. Wickham (Clontarf), D. Fogarty (Cork Constitution), D. Fitzpatrick (Belfast Harlequins), D. Gannon (Blackrock) capt, S. O’Connor (Cork Con), B. O’Connor (Cork Con), O. Hennessy (Dungannon), J. Heaslip (Dublin University). Replacements: C. Geoghegan (UCD) for B. O’Connor 33-43 mins; S. Bennett (Bath) for Fitzpatrick 40; D. O’Brien (Old Belvedere) for

B. O’Connor half time; R. Shaw (London Wasps) for O’Brien 77; N. McComb (Dundee HSFP) for S. O’Connor 80.

WALES: M. Nuthall; Ifan Evans, R. Payne, L. Thomas, F. Brillante; S. MacLeod, R. Wells; J. Yapp (yellow card 4 mins), H. Bennett, C. Griffiths, Ian Evans, L. Charteris, J. Merriman, R. Pugh capt, R. Dale. Replacements: D. Maddocks for Merriman 5-15 mins; R. Rees for Wells and J. Mills for Evan both 50; G. Evans for I Evans 79.

Referee: S. Davey (England).