Peter Jackson: Rarely can Ireland have won so decisively and learned so little

Wales have fallen so far down the pecking order from the last four of the World Cup that they will struggle to stay in the top ten

Ireland’s James Lowe burst through the Wales defence to score a try in Friday night’s clash at the Aviva Stadium. Picture: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile

In the unavoidable absence of the Springboks from Dublin this weekend, Ireland might have wondered whether the waterlogged substitutes would resurface as scheduled.

Despite fears to the contrary, Wales did make it across from their side of the Irish Sea, defying their dismissal by a leading neutral pundit as ‘a sinking ship’. Alun-Wyn Jones strengthened the nautical metaphor by talking, optimistically as it turned out, about ‘shoring up’ the sandbags.