| Ireland (10) 29 |
| Tries: Aki, Conway 2, Ringrose Cons: Sexton 3 Pen: Sexton |
| Wales (0) 7 |
| Try: Basham Con: Sheedy |
Ireland picked up the place they left off in 2021 as they blew away a toothless Wales in a one-sided Six Nations opener.
The dominant hosts scored just one attempt in the primary half, by way of Bundee Aki.
Andrew Conway’s quickfire double and an impressive Garry Ringrose effort after the break noticed Ireland speed up away from the injury-ravaged guests.
Only Taine Basham’s late attempt saved Wales the ignominy of a scoreless defeat.
Wayne Pivac’s facet stay and not using a victory in Dublin since 2015 and have not often regarded much less prone to win in the Irish capital as they had been stifled all through by a powerful Irish defence.
Given the extent of their harm record it was at all times going to be a tricky opening project for the defending champions, but the style of their efficiency will present nice trigger for concern as they start preparations for Scotland in Cardiff subsequent week.
Debutant Hansen impresses as Ireland take cost
Wales arrived in Dublin lacking a number of seasoned campaigners who’ve over 700 Test caps mixed, with Alun Wyn Jones, Taulupe Faletau and George North amongst a prolonged harm record.
Their trigger was not helped in the warm-up when Louis Rees-Zammit went down and required heavy strapping on what gave the impression to be an ankle harm.
The wing remained in the facet however Ireland, maybe recognizing his harm, attacked his flank from the very begin as debutant Mack Hansen fended the Gloucester man off earlier than surging from his personal half into the 22 together with his first involvement in an Ireland shirt.
He additional superior a wonderful first impression in the subsequent passage of play – swinging the ball huge for Aki to walk in for the opening attempt of this 12 months’s match.
Ireland’s backs had been working off a dream platform offered by their forwards who knocked Wales’ defence again with each carry and offered fast ball for Jamison Gibson-Park.
By distinction Wales struggled to get something going and would have been dealing with a much bigger deficit reflective of Ireland’s early dominance had Johnny Sexton not sliced two easy penalties huge.
The first 20 minutes had been – except for Sexton’s kicking – outlined by Irish accuracy, which considerably abandoned the hosts for the second half of the opening 40 as scrappy errors gifted Wales the chance to assault.
Despite some good Dan Biggar kicking Ireland held agency with Tadhg Beirne and Jack Conan successful turnovers simply inside their 22 as Wales huffed and puffed with out placing any stress on the attempt line towards an Irish defence that didn’t concede a single penalty in the opening half.
Conway double places hosts out of sight
The danger of an early second-half sucker punch prevented any Irish complacency regardless of their dominance, and when Conway stretched brilliantly to graze the whitewash in the nook and lengthen Ireland’s result in 17 factors after 4 minutes of the second half, the door slammed shut on a Wales fightback.
The guests’ trigger was not helped on 49 minutes when Josh Adams was despatched to the sin-bin for an off-the-ball hit on Sexton simply as Wales started to use some stress in Irish territory.
On his 102nd worldwide look, Ireland skipper Sexton wasted little time in exploiting his facet’s benefit, taking them into the Welsh half earlier than Josh van der Flier burst to inside inches of the road.
Gibson-Park recycled and looped a protracted cross out to Conway for the only of finishes.
Lauded in the autumn for his or her dynamism, Ireland’s entrance 5 had been once more on music towards a Welsh pack who, with out a number of key figures, struggled to deal with their opposition on the breakdown.
Ringrose’s bonus point-clinching rating got here on the hour mark as Andrew Porter ripped the ball free at a ruck permitting Ireland to shortly transfer the ball proper to Ringrose, who put his foot on the fuel and curved his run inside two Welsh defenders to complete brilliantly.
Only in the 54th minute did Ireland concede their first penalty, for collapsing a maul, and so they continued to regulate the competition as they eyed a clear sheet with the minutes ticking down.
They had been denied that feat by Six Nations debutant Basham – the liveliest of the Welsh pack on the day – when he picked off an ill-advised Beirne offload to saunter between the posts in the seventy fifth minute and supply Wales with a late comfort rating.
Ireland: Keenan; Conway, Ringrose, Aki, Hansen; Sexton (c), Gibson-Park; Porter, Kelleher, Furlong; Beirne, Ryan; Doris, van der Flier, Conan.
Replacements: Sheehan, Healy, Bealham, Baird, O’Mahony, Murray, Carbery, Hume.
Wales: L Williams; McNicholl, Adams, Tompkins, Rees-Zammit; Biggar, T Williams; W Jones, Elias, Francis, Rowlands, Beard, E Jenkins, Basham, Wainwright.
Replacements: Lake, G Thomas, D Lewis, Carter, Moriarty, G Davies, Sheedy, Watkin.
Match officers
Referee: Jaco Peyper (South Africa)
Touch judges: Mathieu Raynal (France) & Angus Gardner (Australia)
TMO: Stuart Terheege (England)
