Ireland overcome determined Wales to make it three bonus point wins out of three
FREE FRAWLEY: Ciarán Frawley of Ireland scores his side's third try during the Guinness Six Nations Rugby Championship match between Ireland and Wales at Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Photo by Sam Barnes/Sportsfile
Ireland continued their unbeaten start to the 2024 Guinness Six Nations with a third straight bonus-point victory but they made hard work of it against an inexperienced but spirited Wales side at Aviva Stadium on Saturday.
A Tadhg Beirne try with the clock in the red secured the additional match point at the end of a scrappy second half after Ireland had dominated the first 40 minutes to open up a 17-0 interval lead through tries from Dan Sheehan and James Lowe.
Then Ireland lost their way after the break, losing Beirne to the sin bin and conceding a penalty try three minutes after the restart.
Man of the match Bundee Aki had a try disallowed for a knock-on earlier in the build-up before stand-in full-back Ciaran Frawley marked his first Six Nations start with a 68th-minute try to give Ireland some much-needed breathing space before Beirne supplied the killer blow at the death.
Fly-half Jack Crowley’s perfect goal-kicking return of four conversions and a penalty helped his side to a healthy 24-point winning margin as Ireland stretched their unbeaten home run to 18 Test matches and stayed on course for back-to-back Grand Slams, though it will need a improved performance in round four with a trip to Twickenham looming next against England in two weeks.
Wales, at the beginning of a major rebuild under second-term head coach Warren Gatland had been written off by bookmakers and pundits alike but had come to Dublin promising to unsettle red-hot favourites Ireland.
Narrow defeats to both Scotland and England had suggested a fast-learning and evolving young team but coming to Dublin was a difficult next step for the inexperienced Welsh.
They had struggled to get a foot hold in the game from the first whistle and their lack of time on the ball denied them the opportunity to test Ireland’s rookie full-back Frawley, in for his first Test start for the injured Hugo Keenan.
Ireland, with 70 per cent possession in the opening 40 minutes, took an early lead through a Crowley penalty on six minutes before hooker Sheehan finished a powerful driving maul for his third try of the championship in as many games, the fly-half’s conversion opening up a 10-0 lead on 20 minutes.
It was a dominant first-half performance from Farrell’s team, albeit with a misfiring lineout as Ireland’s perfect record in the first two rounds came to an end, with two miscues from touch and some messy ball besides.
Yet there was little Wales did to capitalise on that and they conceded a second try on 31 minutes as right wing Calvin Nash ventured off his touchline to link up with on the other flank and provide the offload for Lowe to score in the left corner, finishing a long period of Irish possession inside the Welsh 22.
Crowley’s conversion from close to the touchline made it 17-0 and to that point Wales’s only entries into the Irish 22 had been short-lived forays from restarts.
That changed in the 10 minutes before half-time courtesy of a ruck penalty inside the Irish half that was kicked to the corner and Ireland were forced to defend for the first time in the match.
They might have conceded points for the first time at home in this campaign had Wales not repeatedly turned down the chance of kicks at goal in favour of going to the corner but their ambition was not matched by execution and Ireland went in at half-time with the opportunity to make it two consecutive nillings following the second-round 36-0 victory over Italy.
Wales continued to go in search of tries rather than easy points as the second half began and they were finally rewarded, their lineout drive getting them over the Irish line.
Referee and Six Nations debutant Andrea Piardi could not see a grounding but had registered Tadgh Beirne changing his bind in the preceding maul and went upstairs for a TMO check.
There was still evidence of a grounding but Beirne’s offence was confirmed and Wales were awarded a penalty try with the Ireland lock yellow carded on 43 minutes and the score now 17-7.
Ireland survived the 10-minute sin-binning without conceding further though their discipline did slip and they were forced to dig deep in defence as Wales camped inside their 22 following Beirne’s return to the action.
Somehow Ireland turned the ball over close to the line and escaped again thanks to a turnover penalty won by replacement hooker Ronan Kelleher, one of four big guns rolled off the bench moments earlier, also including debutant prop Oli Jager.
Ireland thought they had scored their third on 57 minutes when Aki split his opposing centres only for the try to be ruled out for a knock on by Robbie Henshaw earlier in the build-up.
It looked a marginal call as Henshaw tipped the ball on to a team-mate on his outside centre but the decision brought to an end a messy third quarter for Ireland.
Frawley changed that, his 65th minute try ending a 36-minute Irish scoring drought with Crowley’s third conversion continuing his 100 per cent goal-kicking return to extend the lead to 24-7 with 15 minutes remaining.
Ireland needed a strong finish to reflect their earlier dominance but it was Wales who looked more likely to score in the final 10 minutes, with replacement lock James Ryan having been sin-binned, only to be held up over the line by some defensive resilience from the home side.
It was a scrappy end to disjointed second half but Ireland had one more chance at securing a try bonus point with a penalty on halfway which Crowley kicked to the corner 90 seconds before the 80-minute mark.
Replacement Ryan Baird collected the lineout on the Welsh 22 and Ireland, down to 14 men, went through the phases in search of an opening as the clock ticked past full-time.
It took some patience in the build-up before the opportunity presented itself and it was Beirne who exploited it from close range, much to the relief of players, coaches and Irish supporters alike.
Crowley’s conversion ended the game and took the score past 30 points but in the end it gave a flattering look to the scoreboard, at least on the basis of Ireland’s patchy second-half performance.
C Frawley; C Nash (S McCloskey, 68), R Henshaw, B Aki, J Lowe; J Crowley, J Gibson-Park (C Murray, 69); A Porter (C Healy, 72), D Sheehan (R Kelleher, 54), T Furlong (O Jager, 54); J McCarthy (J Ryan, 54), T Beirne; P O’Mahony – captain (R Baird, 54), J van der Flier (J Conan, 51 - HIA), C Doris.
T Beirne 43-53, J Ryan 75
C Winnett (I Lloyd 75 – HIA); J Adams (M Grady, 56), G North, N Tompkins, R Dyer; S Costelow (I Lloyd, 72), T Williams (K Hardy, 68); G Thomas (C Domachowski, 59), E Dee (R Elias, 59), K Assiratti (D Lewis, 51); D Jenkins – captain, A Beard (W Rowlands, 54); A Mann (M Martin, 54), T Reffell, A Wainwright.
Andrea Piardi (Italy)
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