'We'll need to be better' says Easterby but Wales challenge will stand to Ireland

It's an impressive looking France side next up.

BRISTOL FASHION: Andy Farrell, Simon Easterby and IRFU performance director David Humphreys in attendance at Ashton Gate on Sunday. Pic: INPHO/Dan Sheridan

WALES 18 IRELAND 27 

Simon Easterby was speaking almost 24 hours before France put 11 tries past Italy but Ireland’s interim head coach had already seen enough to know his squad have lots to improve before Les Bleus arrive in Dublin on Saturday week.

To have the luxury of a Guinness Six Nations Triple Crown already safely secured with three wins from three at the outset of the 2025 campaign and a host of players potentially bolstering the ranks for their pivotal meeting with the French at Aviva Stadium on March 8 gives Easterby a strong hand as he sets about trying to squeeze a more polished performance than one delivered in Cardiff at the weekend.

Yet the manner of this victory is also worthy of satisfaction for the Ireland camp. Having taken an early 10-0 lead through a Jack Conan Try and conversion and penalty from Sam Prendergast, they found themselves trailing 13-10 at half-time under the Principality Stadium roof and then 18-10 after just 44 minutes. Yet once again a strong bench spearheaded by the irrepressible Bundee Aki made the difference for Ireland, just as it had done after a shaky start at home to England in round one. Reduced to 14 men following a high hit from Garry Ringrose on 34 minutes, the undermanned and white-shirted Irish had not looked themselves as they twice succumbed to the red wave of a re-energised Welsh side who looked transformed under new management compared to their prior two outings in 2025. With Ringrose’s initial yellow card upgraded to a 20-minute red, Aki’s arrival at the appointed time was the spark that brought Ireland back on an even keel. His turnover menace helped put his side on the front foot and their 17 unanswered points, through a Jamie Osborne try a minute later followed by three excellent penalty strikes from 80-minute man Prendergast, were the difference between a visiting team searching for a third successive title and a home one desperately seeking a first victory in 12 Test matches.

You can argue the fairness of the 20-minute red enabling a team to return to its full complement of 15 players at the appointed time but World Rugby’s bunker review law trial is in force and Ireland benefited to the max in Wales on Saturday. And Easterby was delighted his players in a team showing seven changes from the one which had clinically dispatched Scotland 13 days earlier at Murrayfield had found a way to get the job done.

"That's always been part of this group's mentality, that we try and build continuity in selection but also build experiences,” Easterby said. “We got that today.

“There's a lot of guys who never would have played in an atmosphere like that. In terms of the way the game unfolded and the way we were able to battle through some difficult situations, that will be really pleasing for us as a team. The guys that came off the bench and were able to impact that game, some of the younger players will benefit massively from that experience."

And yet, the Ireland management will demand improvement because similar wobbles will be even more ruthlessly punished by a French side coming off Sunday’s 73-24 victory over the Italians in Rome.

"We'll need to be better,” Easterby said, “and there's things we weren't good enough at today and we gave Wales the opportunity to get into the game but also they played well. They did things which we expected and we certainly weren't coming into the game underestimating what they could achieve with a different mentality, different coaching group. They were always going to get a bounce and we saw that."

That elements of the media had not foreseen such a bounce from the Welsh on home spoil clearly irked Easterby after a week in which Irish supporters were accused of arrogance by a British national newspaper columnist following claims made on an online radio show that Ireland could win with just 13 players on the field.

"It's just unnecessary,” the interim head coach said. “I know that's part and parcel of people giving opinion but some people's opinion doesn't need to be aired. But it is. That's part and parcel of this game and it's fine.

“I know that's the way of the world at the moment but our players have been brilliant just focusing on what they can do well. We were always going to come up against a purple patch. As it happened, we went down a man with Ringer going off and they got a couple of scores off the back of it but I thought we found a way to get through that and Wales did exactly what we expected them to, not probably what some people thought."

Expect a more measured approach to Ireland’s next assignment, when favouritism, if at all, will not be so heavy.

“They can play the game in many ways,” Easterby said of the free-flowing French. “They can deliver up front and they've got backs that can light up any game. They're going to be a real challenge.

“It's exciting that we get a chance after two away games to go home and play in the Aviva. I think we're really looking forward to that and I'd say it will be a cracking atmosphere.

“They will be challenging, of course they will. We'll feel like we've had a couple of good wins against them recently but we also know they've got great strengths and we need to get better ourselves."

WALES: B Murray; T Rogers (J Roberts, 63), M Llewellyn, B Thomas, E Mee; G Anscombe (J Evans, 53), Tomos Williams; N Smith (G Thomas, 18-30 - HIA), E Dee (E Lloyd, 74), WG John (H Thomas, 53); W Rowlands (Teddy Williams, 71), D Jenkins; J Morgan – captain, T Reffell (A Wainwright, 56), T Faletau.

Replacement not used: R Williams.

IRELAND: J Osborne; M Hansen (J Crowley, 73), G Ringrose (B Aki, 20-min RC replacement, 51), R Henshaw, J Lowe; S Prendergast, J Gibson-Park (C Murray, 78); A Porter (J Boyle, 70), D Sheehan – captain (G McCarthy, 75), T Clarkson (F Bealham, 49); J McCarthy (J Ryan, ht-49 – HIA & 65), T Beirne; P O’Mahony, J van der Flier, J Conan (R Baird, 44).

Red Card (20-Minute): G Ringrose 34 mins (upgraded from yellow under bunker review).

Referee: Christophe Ridley (England)