Ireland Hopes Rekindled
Ireland rekindled their RBS Six Nations Championship hopes with a hard fought 31-5 win over a disappointing Wales at Lansdown Road.
The Welsh dominated the opening 20 minutes and scored first through a Mark Jones try but Ireland stormed back and were 11-5 up at the break thanks to a David Wallace try and two penalties by Ronan O’Gara.
Winger Shane Horgan scored a try early in the second half as Wales lost all sense of cohesion in their play and scrum half Stringer added a third Irish try at the end.
After a scrappy home win over Italy and defeat in Paris, it was a victory Eddie O’Sullivan’s team badly needed.
But it will be a big disappointment for the crisis-hit Welsh.
Wales caretaker coach Scott Johnson said: “We got outskilled today, they put us under pressure and the loss of Stephen Jones early effected us.”
“We’ve got to hold our hands up, got to be honest and get back to the drawing board - there’s no shame in that.”
Wales try scorer Mark Jones agreed that the enforced injury change hampered Wales, but refused to blame replacement fly-half Gavin Henson for Wales’ loss of control.
Henson looked rusty and was wayward with his kicking and decision making, but was playing just his second match since returning from a seven-week ban.
For Ireland this win puts them on four points and victories in their remaining games over England and Scotland would hand them the triple crown.
“We have to take one game at a time,” Ireland coach Eddie O’Sullivan said.
“But it’s great to be in a situation where we are the authors of our own destiny in the championship.”
“I’m very pleased with the performance. Over the 80 minutes we deserved to win and played the better rugby.”
