Ireland beats Wales to stay in contention
By AP, 14 Mar 2010 AP is a Roar Pro
- Tagged:
- Ireland, Rugby Union, Six Nations, Wales
Ireland beat Wales 27-12 at Croke Park on Saturday to stay in contention for the Six Nations title.
Ireland scored first-half tries through Keith Earls and Tomas O’Leary when Wales was reduced to 14 men by a yellow card to fullback Lee Byrne.
Ireland’s 16-6 halftime lead could have been bigger had flyhalf Jonathan Sexton not missed three kicks.
Earls then touched down again midway through the second period to prevent the sort of second-half comeback that brought Wales victory over Scotland and almost overturned big deficits to England and France.
Ireland’s first win over Wales at Croke Park meant it could still take the Triple Crown for beating all other British Isles sides, and could even retain its Six Nations title if leader France is somehow overturned by Italy on Sunday or by England next week.
Ireland’s three tries enlivened an often scrappy game punctuated by treatment to hurt players and referee Craig Joubert’s tight regulation of the breakdown.
Ireland was leading just 6-3 when Byrne was sent from the field in the 25th minute for deliberately killing the ball.
The Irish almost immediately seized the advantage.
Wales was penalised near the right corner flag and Ireland took the penalty quickly, working the ball to Brian O’Driscoll. The centre slipped a pass to Earls, whose angle took him through the defensive line and over for the try.
Sexton pulled the conversion onto the near post to miss the extra points but Ireland soon grabbed another try. Following a lineout take, lock Paul O’Connell offloaded in the tackle and O’Leary broke through into space where Byrne would have been and raced in to score.
Having won the second half against all three of its previous opponents, Wales started the second half brightly. But lingering hopes of victory ended midway through the period from another Irish lineout when O’Leary sidestepped to find space on the break and slipped the ball wide for Earls to crash over in the corner despite a tackle by wing Shane Williams.
Sexton missed the conversion again but somewhat atoned for his poor kicking by hitting a long-range drop goal late on to complete the scoring.
© AP 2012Enjoy sports? Enjoy a bargain? All Sports Online has your favourite sporting brands at up to 70% off. Online only, premium quality sporting goods and merchandise at discounted prices. Get a deal now.
The Crowd Says (29) | Page 1 of Comments
Have Your Say
Do you have what it takes to become a sports writer? Write for the roar
Rugby Union articles
- Will Super Rugby crowds continue their slide? (201)
- Will South African rugby force a Super 21 by 2018? (173)
- The real story of how John O’Neill turned Manchester City down (70)
- Dan Parks and the unsolved questions of expat rugby (65)
- Australian teams at Super disadvantage (58)
- Pocock set to be named new Force skipper (56)
- Can the ‘Tahs win the battle after losing the Waugh? (51)
- France turns to Parra and Trinh-Duc
- Rebels look to lift for formidable Blues in rugby trial
- Mr Fix-It Lucas wants to nail down No.10
- Force roost loses ‘Mother Hen’ Sharpe
- Victory beat Mariners with Kewell winner
- Waratahs romp to 83-5 trial win over Samoa A
- Quade Cooper’s return to the Reds goes up a gear
- Wales show Southern Hemisphere how to play running rugby (29)
- What opening matches of Six Nations taught us (19)
- Will Super Rugby crowds continue their slide? (201)
- Clinical Chiefs cost rusty Rebels in Corio (9)
- Six Nations shows rugby is a parochial game at heart (5)
- Goose’s Super Rugby up-and-comer XV for 2012 (29)
- What does the future hold for the Six Nations (50)
- Explore:
- Ireland, Rugby Union, Six Nations, Wales
Grandpabhaile said | March 14th 2010 @ 4:55pm | Report comment
Great game. Good win for Ireland.
scarlet said | March 15th 2010 @ 3:37am | Report comment
Definitely a good game for Ireland and a dreadful one for Wales. Very, very disappointing that a Welsh team with a number of very talented individuals can’t string together 80 minutes of clinical, exciting rugby. Still missing some strength in depth and maybe some useless discipline, Lee Byrne handed the match to Ireland, but, to be honest they were the better side on the day as well.
Viscount Crouchback said | March 15th 2010 @ 5:21am | Report comment
Great game? I thought it was dire. Wales were abject. Ireland weren’t much better. The Irish, to use Ashley-Cooper’s excellent phrase, play “parasitic footy”. That is, they happily concede possession and soak up pressure like a baseline counter-puncher, then strike when their opponent’s worthy but bumbling attacks come acropper.
It seems that in pretty much every modern game of rugby – the Lions in the summer, France v Ireland, England v Ireland, Ireland v Wales – the team that makes the fewest passes and the most tackles is the team that ends up winning. There is clearly something wrong with the rules when teams are better off without the ball than with it.
Wavell Wakefield said | March 15th 2010 @ 7:27am | Report comment
The Wallabies in 1999 anyone? It seems a bit pointless singling out Ireland, VC. They didn’t start this trend. Teams can’t manage to beat them, but not in the way that teams initially struggled to beat SA this season. Ireland are hard to beat because they play intelligent rugby, not brutish, one-dimensional dross. Allied to that intelligence is a real ability, hence the tries they have scored. You critiquing Ireland is a consistent, and unwarranted, theme.
pothale said | March 15th 2010 @ 8:20am | Report comment
In VC’s defence, WW, surely critiquing them is always fair game?
Wavell Wakefield said | March 15th 2010 @ 8:34am | Report comment
Whatever floats your boat, pothale. I don’t think it’s accurate and I’m pretty sure there’s fairer game out there.
pothale said | March 15th 2010 @ 8:54am | Report comment
Oh I misunderstood you. Regular biased bagging vs objective critiquing.
Wavell Wakefield said | March 15th 2010 @ 9:19pm | Report comment
I see. I should have clarified. My bad.
Viscount Crouchback said | March 16th 2010 @ 3:55am | Report comment
It is fair to say that the Irish are the beneficiaries of a trend rather than its cause. Note, also, that I specifically offered examples of the Lions and the France-Ireland games (i.e. occasions when Irish players were on the receiving end of these regrettable modern rugby trends).
However, I cannot share your one-eyed assertion that the Irish represent “intelligence and real ability” while the Springboks represent “brutish, one-dimensional dross”. A more rational critique would note the remarkable similarities between the two teams:
- Both tend to kick more than their opponents
- Both tend to pass less than their opponents
- Both are happy to concede possession and soak up pressure
- Neither has a dominant scrum
- Both have superb offensive and defensive lineouts upon which they build much of the game
- Both tend to score from well-worked first phase moves (especially from the lineout) – e.g. Bowe’s try at Twickenham was a carbon copy of Pietersen’s in Pretoria.
Two peas in a pod, some might say. They are both classy outfits, but it does worry me (and it obviously worried the IRB) that these counter-punching tactics were so successful under the 2009 rules. It is interesting that the Blue Bulls have had to expand their game since the advent of the new interpretations. I think that’s a good thing. We’ll see in due course if the Boks and Irish can do likewise.
Wavell Wakefield said | March 16th 2010 @ 5:31am | Report comment
The key difference being that Ireland have the ability to score offensive tries, VC, as opposed to scoring what I would label defensive tries i.e. working directly off opposition mistakes. SA did not show that ability either during the most recent 3N or during the Autumn Internationals. Ireland don’t simply kick through 9-10 and build from there, nor, as aforementioned, are they scoring solely from intercepts as Habana and JDV would often do. They also take more chances than SA did last season. There are similarities, but only broad similarities, and the same broad similarities are shared by France, Argentina and Australia (obviously not everything you have listed). My personal opinion is that Ireland are far less obvious and more flexible an outfit than either France or SA.
N.B. Ireland has turned over more ball than their opposition in every 2010 6N game aside from the France match.
pothale said | March 15th 2010 @ 5:54am | Report comment
Maybe because the teams with more possession aren’t doing enough with it. And when they don’t have it, are unable to counter attacks sufficiently well.
Why should a team’s majority of possession automatically or preferentially give them right of victory?
Maybe it’s smarter to watch your opponent stumble and bumble their way through inept attacks that are unworthy of the game, and like sparring some blowhard prizefighter, wait until their guard is down and then strike?
Ireland were caught napping in the their game against France and got deservedly spanked. They learned from those mistakes, and made sure they took their chances against England. 3-1 on tries. Wales 3-0 on tries.
Ireland and their game have been variously described by their opposition this season as ‘serial cheaters’ (France), ‘could have gone either way’ and the ref cheated us of victory (England) ‘clinical, playing ‘smart rugby’ but ‘our indiscipline is what cost us the match’, (Wales) and now Ireland ‘weren’t much better’ than ‘abject’?
Back handed compliments, anyone?
Seiran said | March 16th 2010 @ 1:55am | Report comment
It’s all the more difficult to counter attack when the Irish players were regularly off-side and were hardly pinged for it.
By spending so much time off side they were able to close down the Welsh play before it got started.
Viscount Crouchback said | March 16th 2010 @ 3:59am | Report comment
That’s true – the Irish specialise in offsides and lying over the ball. That’s why the refs (operating under the new interpretations) have hammered them in the last two games.
pothale said | March 16th 2010 @ 5:43am | Report comment
Really VC? If they’re specialists, they’re not particularly good at it.
Ireland
Going in at side
Not releasing tackler
Going in off feet
Sealing off lying on the ground
Not letting tackler back on feet
Offside – Earls
Going in at side
Illegal turnover win
Taking down scrum
Killing ball at scrum
Offside at ruck
No release tackler
No release tackler
Offside
Offiside
Turning in
Wales
Lying on ball at breakdown
Going straight down
Lying on ball
Obstruction
Killing ball
Going in off feet
Truck and trailer
Throwing ball away
Going in off feet
Going in off feet
pothale said | March 16th 2010 @ 4:00am | Report comment
Sorry Seiran you’re right – I forgot to add in the permanently offside bit as well.
KevinMeath said | March 15th 2010 @ 7:00am | Report comment
Wales are a good team but are playing very poorly, they had more than enough of the ball to win the game but are predictable allowing Ireland just to soak up the pressure and the counter very effectively when the oppertunity presents itself. Wales are desperate to attack but end up either throwing the ball to Williams and expecting miracles or sending Jamie Roberts on the crash all of which can be dealt with by the Irish defence, which is a quality outfit. Ref I thought was poor (no and thats not the reason Wales lost — I say as a biased welshman) yellow card for Byrne early on OK harsh but lets make everyone be positive, result continually warns Irish defence about repeated infingement (who are quite rightly playing to the limit) but doesn’t produce any cards. Can I blame him for not having a clue what was happening at scrums? but suspect if game was played in Cardiff Wales would have been given a penalty try.
Wales missed to many first up tackles, they played very badly or rather only played as well as Ireland let them.
pothale said | March 15th 2010 @ 8:06am | Report comment
Kevin – I thought to get a penalty try, you need three infringements. There were two. Ireland won the third scrum and cleared their lines. I thought that was the critical point in the match, rather than Byrne’s binning, though 10 points were scored in his absence as well as giving away another penalty later on.
Here’s what Stephen Jones had to say about his team: “”That series of scrums early in the second half was the turning point of the game. We had a lot of pressure, but we let them off the hook and they scored soon after they cleared their lines. If we could have scored a try or a penalty try at that point, we would have been back in the game. But we failed to concentrate on that last scrum, and for whatever reason the ball went loose and they had a big scrum.”
I also don’t buy that Ireland only scored on the counter. Byrne went off and Ireland piled on all the pressure – understandably. They attacked. They stole a number of Welsh lineouts during the game and created attacking opportunities from them. They scored two tries in the space of 5 minutes during Byrne’s absence. These were not scored off breakouts from their 22 – they came from passages of sustained attacking pressure. The first half finished 16-6. That’s where the damage was done. And it was a balanced enough half in terms of possession and territory with Ireland in fact shading it on territory.
The possession stats that I’ve read showed:
First half
Ireland 11.15 mins
Wales 11.24 mins
Time in opponents’s half
Ireland 21 minutes
Wales 19.35
The second half was more like what people criticised. For Ireland it was about soaking up Welsh pressure from the inevitable backlash that would arrive (as Wales have done in their previous matches.)
Possession ran:
Second half:
Ireland 10.54 mins
Wales 17.46
Territory
Ireland 14.56
Wales 28.18
It finished 11-6 in favour of Ireland
KevinMeath said | March 16th 2010 @ 6:49am | Report comment
Don’t get me wrong ireland deserved their victory, i didn’t mean they only attacked on the counter, more like they were very confident in their own ability without the ball and then when they had the ball confident their own ability to take their chances. The big difference ,in my view anyway , between the two side is confidence in attack and defence.
The ‘penalty try’ was a huge moment and could have been the moment the game changed, agreed but Byrne was carded , fair enuogh bit harsh especially as it was in Irish 22 (to be fair should that make any difference?)but just thought as ref started by putting his foot down he then allowed repeated Irish infringments and gave at least a couple of warnings. thats one of the advantages of playing at home.
Could be wrong about the penalty try but I don’t think it has to be three penalties could be only one if ref thinks try would be scored. i think Wales got one against Australia in 2004-5 after i penalty– perhaps the law changed.
ohtani's jacket said | March 15th 2010 @ 7:26am | Report comment
I tuned in to the start of the game to get an earfull from the Irish studio hosts about how the SH want to turn rugby into a circus by taking away the contest at the breakdown and turning the game into league.
pothale said | March 15th 2010 @ 8:14am | Report comment
OJ – that was George Hook sounding off in relation to IRB deciding to apply the interpretations fully in Round 4 of the championship. It was evident from Joubert and Jonkers reffing yesterday – and neither had a great day in getting the balance right – either harshly penalising the tackler for not rolling away/releasing player in time but then sometimes letting the tackler hang onto the ball too long.
But hey ho. It’s going to take time to even out. Though I don’t know why they need to use SH refs to implement the laws – they’re no better than their NH counterparts – and the NH refs need to get some practice in.
ohtani's jacket said | March 15th 2010 @ 3:54pm | Report comment
Eh, the commentators kept saying it was harsh when it wasn’t, but that was after watching five rounds of the Super 14. The “harshness” came from the fact that Ireland were making legitimate turnovers under the old interpretations. Personally, I thought Joubert let both sides get away with more than the Super 14 sides are allowed, though counter rucking has been supported in the Super 14 in recent weeks.
pothale said | March 15th 2010 @ 9:26pm | Report comment
I take the point. And Ireland are going to have to get used to it. Too many penalties conceded against Wales. and they aren’t going to get away with giving up the amount of possession they did in the second half against either Australia or New Zealand.
Despite my whinging about Joubert, though, neither Gatland or Kidney had any complaints about him, and said so after the match. So it’s a case of knuckle down and get used to the changes in interpretation.
It’s a pity that they’ve only started to really introduce them now. And from what I can tell, they won’t be brought into the remaining league or Heineken games which seems stupid. If they don’t play them again between now and the summer tours down south, the NH teams are going to put themselves at a severe disadvantage – they need that like a hole in the head.
ohtani's jacket said | March 16th 2010 @ 12:35am | Report comment
They’ll probably end up reaching a medium otherwise it will be difficult for Southern and Northern hemisphere sides to play each other. I just hope we don’t end up with different interpretations of the new interpretations if you catch my drift.
BTW, I couldn’t help but notice that the Irish passing is a little strange when they try to lift the tempo. Why is it so laboured?
pothale said | March 16th 2010 @ 4:05am | Report comment
There’s quite a good article in today’s Irish Independent on the new interpreations and their introductions. It sheds a bit of light on their awkward arrival into the 6 Nations.
It also features an interview with Declan Kidney in which he manages to speak more than four sentences using more than three words in each.
http://www.independent.ie/sport/rugby/six-nations/comment-analysis/breakdown-in-communication-2099315.html
Re Irish passing. Don’t know the answer – drinking too much Super Glue the night before, maybe?
Sam said | March 16th 2010 @ 7:12am | Report comment
I agree. Introduce them everywhere. They are definitely going to be used in June, maybe that is why they have been introduced in the 6N – to give the international teams a bit of exposure before then?
ricardo said | March 15th 2010 @ 7:37am | Report comment
rugby in ireland if i remember correctly was on the ropes just over a decade ago..amazing what winning teams and winning players can do to the popularity of a sport..
pothale said | March 15th 2010 @ 8:16am | Report comment
Professionalism, provincial structure, central contracting and restricting game time helped a lot.
Ian Noble said | March 16th 2010 @ 2:18am | Report comment
I would add consistency of selection, smaller pool, a collection of experienced talented players. I don’t know the total number of caps of the Irish 22, but it is probably in excess of 800. You can’t buy that experience and leadership on the field.
The only question will some of them be over the hill for RWC2011 and are the replacements up to the mark?
Wavell Wakefield said | March 16th 2010 @ 2:47am | Report comment
The starting XV versus Wales had a combined 649 caps, which worked out at 43.26 per man. The bench had 188 caps, therefore the 22 had a combined 837 caps. The thing to remember, though, is that that experience wasn’t equally distributed. Hayes, O’Connell, O’Driscoll and O’Gara are worth roughly 400 caps between them. Regardless, I agree with your comment about experience, Ian.