Six Nations 2023 - Wales v Ireland, Sat 4th Feb, KO 2:15PM - TV: VM1, BBC1, S4C

leakyboots

Hard to not be pleased with that day out. If you remember the 90s you can only appreciate how far we've come. These are heady days for Irish rugby. Look where Wales are at. This might not last so enjoy the ride.

Delighted for Murray, some ridiculous hyperbole here before the game like he's some sort of geriatric. He's been playing well and kudos to whoever took the time.l to post his time-to-ruck stats pre-match (Syd?). There were a couple of times he protected rucks when we were under the cosh.

I think Munster and Ireland are handling post-Murray life well by blooding the likes of Casey, Patterson, Doak. Do people not remember our scrumhalves for the 20+ years before him? He's an all-time great.

Keenan, Doris and Sheehan are a joy to watch. Thought James Ryan was superb also.

I'd love to see Coombes in the squad, what an asset off the bench he'd be.

France will be a great test, a humdinger.

hold my beer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120203016#Comment_120203016

Lol, Sexton has always been an attacking threat with ball in hand. Always. And still absolutely is

aloooof

That’s our biggest win in the opening round of the 6 Nations since 2003.

Former Former Former

Doris' stats are ridiculous. 15 carries for 56 metres, 19 tackles and none missed.

Interested Observer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120203341#Comment_120203341

On top of that, he seemed involved in a massive number of rucks, which we don't really get stats for. Won a maul turnover right on our tryline as well. And scored a try.

phog

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120200635#Comment_120200635

This aged well 😁

I watched the match in a crowded pub so couldn't hear any commentary or ref mic and it was after a funeral so hadn't heard about the late changes. So I was delighted to see us get stuck in early and get those 2 early tries. That's a great cushion to have in a 6Ns match when away from home. Then the Lowe intercept was the icing on the cake.

Farrell really has the squad performing at a level that is very hard to beat.

Sexton's HIA was the only was the only real downer on what close to being a perfect day in Cardiff.

Next week is looking like it's going to be a Grandslam decider and it will huge for us if we can beat France in a World Cup year.

Duarte1974

James Lowe try??? (In response to the statement that our back three are not creative)

Cosmo Kramer

Sexton didn't actually have a HIA, it was a miscommunication.

Just as a general point, I didn't really get the respect, bordering on fear, that was being put out on here in relation to Wales and particularly Gatland through the week. There was nothing at all I could see to suggest that this Wales team would cause us any major issues in terms of winning the game.

On paper it possibly looked like a strong Wales team, maybe if the game was being played back in 2019 or earlier, but anyone who has watched Wales in the last 12 months must have seen that most of those lads are well past their best and picking that many players aged 30+ was going to be unlikely to create a situation, barring another red card, where Wales could actually win the game.

Gatland is not the coaching genius he has been made out to be either, we learned that on the last Lions tour, and without the assistance of Shaun Edwards' defence setup his limitations are now being exposed. I don't think he'll improve them much from Pivac to be honest, he'll probably cut out the beatings to the likes of Italy and Georgia, but that's about it.

So, in a way, it's understandable why nobody involved in the Ireland setup was getting too carried away with the win today, this is a poor Wales team with a bleak few years ahead of them. I'm sure they'll come good again in time (as in before the end of the decade maybe), but this was always going to be a relatively straightforward four point win for us at a minimum.

stephen_n

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120203458#Comment_120203458

Dickinson said the 10 seems to not know where he is on the pitch. The response came that the Irish doctor has said he’s ok. He wasn’t withdrawn for a HIA but he should have been.

lawrencesummers

The 6 nations will be decided next weekend.

The wooden spoon will have to wait until the 11th march.

OldRio

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120202612#Comment_120202612

Now you're just embarrassing yourself.

From watching the game back - I don't even think the Welsh played particularly well or put us under undue pressure in that second half - Ireland's discipline just went a bit awry. They weren't pressure penalties from relentless Welsh good play, most were just sloppy, and imo, 3 were harsh.

We conceded 1 penalty in the opening half hour, and only 1 in the last 15 mins, in between we conceded 11. That kept giving the Welsh possession, territory and opportunity, which, with the exception of the Williams try, they couldn't utilise.

Andrew Porter's Penalties

Andrew Porter gave away an incredible 6 penalties. That probably looks a little worse than it is in reality - I would say 5 of the 6 were the correct decision, but one was for holding on when Ireland were on the attack (I generally think these penalties are more on the teammates who should be clearing the ruck than the carrier in most cases). Of the other 5 penalties - I think one was a bad call. The one after the Liam Williams try. He isn't especially late there, and he goes in with his hands, to try and get under the ball. That situation was then aggravated by Dan Biggar coming in and starting the kerfuffle. I think it was a harsh penalty on Porter.

His other ones were mostly sloppy ones though - one in the scrum for losing his bind, one he was lucky to avoid a yellow for (pinged for tackling while on the floor, when the tip like nature of the tackle looked at least worthy of more scrutiny), one for not rolling after a tackle and one for being offside at a ruck.

He was probably lucky twice to avoid yellows; one for the tip tackle, but also for the sheer proximity of his penalties. He gave away penalties in the 34th, 40th, 42nd, 44th and 45th minutes (and a final one, for holding on, after 60 mins).

On the flip side - he did make a big number of tackles (14 made, 1 missed), played a lot of minutes and had a huge amount of ruck involvements (so gave himself more opportunities to offend effectively). He also won a penalty in the scrum from Dillon Lewis in the 47th min.

Dickson - Overall assessment

I don't think Karl Dickson had a bad game - but we did have three harsh penalties I felt against us during that crucial passage when it felt like we just couldn't get our hands on the ball. First one is the late hit penalty on Porter I've mentioned above.

Second one was on James Lowe after 49 mins for crossing / blocking the kick chaser, and was a ridiculous call. Keenan makes the catch, Adams was nowhere near to contest and just barges straight into the back of Lowe. Bad penalty.

Third one was the strange TMO interjection to overturn Bundee's penalty on 63 mins, and ping him for the tackle off the ball on George North. All three penalties were harsh, and allowed the Welsh to keep possession and territory.

Fwiw, I also think the Henderson penalty on second viewing while strictly okay was probably on the harsh side. He does everything he can to avoid the contact, and barely grazes Williams, who absolutely makes a meal of it. Sexton was hit late after kicking multiple times in the game and didn't get the penalty.

He was also guilty I felt though of not awarding Ireland a lot in the second half for when we had players clearly on the ball - it happened clearly with JvdF on 54 mins, and then with Doris twice after 56 and 62 mins.

Overall, he wasn't a decisive factor in the game, but I do think the multitude of penalties in the second half were what created the appearance of Wales being more in the game that they actually were.

AbusesToilets

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120203421#Comment_120203421

Totally fair, I was wrong on that one. He played completely differently to how he's gone in previous tests, it was great to see.

sydthebeat

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120203514#Comment_120203514

No he didn't use those words, he said it looks like the 10 doesn't know what's happening. It wasn't clear that 1. He was talking about biggar or sexton 2 he was referring to a head contact, or a more general "is he being subbed or not"

In either hand, the Irish medical staff checked Sexton and said he was fine. Sexton won a turnover in the next play, and was taken off after that. Rob Kearney in the studio after was quite vociferous that sexton didn't go off with a HIA as the medical staff checked him on they pitch

Jump_In_Jack

..

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120203674#Comment_120203674

Yeah, I definitely think the dialogue at the time when Dickson said "10 doesn't know what's happening" was referencing whether or not a substitution was happening or not, it wasn't him making a determination that Sexton was in need of a HIA.

Sexton walked off by himself, and went to the bench. He didn't leave for a HIA as far as I could see.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120202899#Comment_120202899

I think you're overstating how good Wales were, to back the narrative you talked before the game that they were a really good side.

They offered very very little today.

The vast majority of their territory and opportunities came from sloppy penalties (and some incorrect penalties). This allowed them to have the ball for a decent amount of the second half, but they did very little with it. Biggar created absolutely zilch in that game.

The 34-10 scoreline in no way flattered Ireland.

Bobb Sapp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120203697#Comment_120203697

No harm being aware of your opponents strengths and giving them respect. On the other hand being overly confident is not a good trait to bring into a game even if it turns out to be justified. The recriminations around here for people raising concerns pre match is a bit of a witch hunt and possibly setting the scene for blind loyalty and belief in the future which are never good things.

Jump_In_Jack

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120203697#Comment_120203697

Wales were blown away in the opening 10 minutes, but after that Ireland only won by 10 points, 7 of which came from an intercept try, and factor in that Wales opted to turn down a few kicks at the posts towards the end, and had a few try scoring opportunities they didn’t convert.

It would be easy to shrug and say yeah Iteland had it easy and we’re cruising with 50 minutes to go, but I don’t buy that, I think they wanted to get that bonus point try and instead of getting it early on they had to defend for most of the next 30 minutes. Didn’t score from 27 minutes to 72 minutes, that’s 45 minutes, and the score came with their fullback in the sin bin from 64 to 74 minutes. Conceded 11 penalties in the second half.

Gatland made the point that both teams had the same number of chances to score inside the 22, just Ireland converted their chances.

So, job done today, and that’s great, but I wouldn’t be getting carried away saying the performance was brilliant. I hope they have a few things up their sleeve prepared for France.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120200520#Comment_120200520

I think Joe ball ruined Murray. Slow everything down and box kick or preplanned moves.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120202393#Comment_120202393

Yet she kept at it. Johnson rolled his eyes, at one stage, with her questions to Warburton.

The BBC love "forgetting" that Ireland is an all island team with NI, who they are also meant to service in an unbiased manner

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120202649#Comment_120202649

Yet you said that a 20+ points win would be a hammering, and you would admit as much...

Well?

Dubinusa

Nice win. Definitely s great start to the match. 2nd half, we were fairly meh. Discipline was poor and was concerning.

I'm not sure what to make of it. Delighted to have won and happy with how Bealham did.

Interested Observer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120203616#Comment_120203616

I thought the "tip" tackle was harsh as well. The only reason it happened is because the Welsh player jumped into it which is itself a penalty offence. Imo it was never a yellow. And the the restart penalty was such a nonsense.

kuang1

Jesus lads we won by 24 points in Cardiff.

Having had not won there for 10 years.

I think it was a pretty fcuking good day out.

Interested Observer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120203734#Comment_120203734

Aaannnd, if you only count the minutes from 40-50, we actually lost! Panic stations!!!

TRC10

I thought it was a very impressive display. Probably our best 6N performance under Farrell I'd go as far as saying. The way we took them to the cleaners early doors was mighty impressive and exactly what we needed to do. A Welsh team in Cardiff with momentum and the crowd behind them is a dangerous thing, but we denied them that. Yes, we lost our way a bit in the third quarter, but the game was over after 25 minutes. No need to over-exert ourselves when we've France in a week.

Ryan and Doris were immense in the pack. Bealham, Sheehan and VDF went really well too. Porter and Beirne I thought had poor games by their standards. Ringrose, Hansen and Keenan were the best of the backs. Murray did well. Sexton I don't think had a good game. He had two terrible kicks in the 2nd half that gifted Wales brilliant attacking opportunities and we were lucky they managed to finish neither of them. I'm not seeing what people are seeing in McCloskey. Thought he was pretty average and got dominated in a lot of collisions. I'd 100% be starting Aki next week. Casey and Byrne both looked comfortable when they came on.

A lot to work on for next week, but a very satisfying start altogether. All this talk of "oh but if you take away the first 10 minutes, we didn't win by much" is nonsense. It's an 80 minute game. We put them to bed in the first 25 minutes and took our foot off the pedal. They hammered away for an hour and got nowhere. Then we woke up when we wanted the BP and got it with ease.

pc7

Heading back from Cardiff today. God I enjoyed that first half so much, the welsh around us in the stadium were just stunned, not a peep out of them. Second half wasn’t pretty but we ground it out and have the bp.

I know I shouldn’t be surprised but some of the negativity in here is really unfounded. 10 years, we hadn’t won in Cardiff in ten years. We have the bp now onto next week.

Hopefully Wales can help Scotland do a Scotland and they lose next week. I think with them away week 4, if we’ve a few more injuries could be a real test. Especially if they’ve some momentum behind them. We know what France and England will bring, Scotland are just so erratic who knows.

Cracking start!

Musicrules

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120203514#Comment_120203514

You scoffed at my prediction in the now closed thread for this match. My prediction of Ireland 37 Wales 12 was very close to being correct. Go me. I'll deliver my expert opinion on the France game later in the week. Stay tuned everyone.

naughtyboy

Why is there no worry about minutes 20 to 70 , I don't understand why this

I thought England and Scotland was a good game , Scotland will be very hard to beat and by time we play England they will be too.

Scotland are interesting when it comes to the world cup, they are an excellent team when Russell brings his A game