Wales 25 – 7 Ireland
In what was to be Warren Gatland’s last Six Nations game in charge of Wales, his team utterly smashed Ireland to win their third Grand Slam in 11 years under his guidance. No other coach in five/six Nations history has won three Grand Slams. Ireland were rocked early by a Hadleigh Parkes try from an Anscombe chip over the defence and then punished by penalty after penalty. The water-tight Welsh defence only cracked after the full 80 minutes had elapsed and the game was sealed. In this victory, Wales claim their spot as the second best team in the world rankings, behind only the All Blacks.
Wales dominated Ireland so completely, that they never looked like scoring. As a fan I wasn’t really nervous, whenever Ireland did get the ball they gave away penalties or made mistakes that swung momentum back in Wales’ favour, which more often than not added just a few more points to the board through Anscombe’s boot. Not many outside of that Wales team saw this result coming. Wales have relied on a herculean defence all tournament and not really fired in attack. Surely Ireland were going to figure them out, but it never came.
With the forwards unable to win the collisions and provide Murray with quick ball so key to Ireland’s game, Sexton was unbalanced. He was forced into more kicking than he’d like and made uncharacteristic errors. On two or three occasions, huge kicks were straight into touch handing Wales amazing field position. The one attack that Ireland did make was covered brilliantly by a Hadleigh Parkes tackle and they never really threatened after. What was particularly impressive was that Wales never eased, they never looked like the game was in the bag and they played the full 80 minutes. I thought it noteworthy that with Biggar on the field, Gareth Anscombe kept the kicking duties. It will be good for his development to have had that exposure to finishing off a game.
From this, Wales are in an amazing position going in to the World Cup. They have beaten South Africa and Australia and secured the Grand Slam. They have the mentality to endure patches of opposition momentum by trusting their defence and are incredibly patient in attack. They are equally comfortable in attacking through the forwards as they are through the backs. They run the ball from 9 through their patient attack with the forwards, allowing the Fly-Half to sit back and watch for gaps to then call for the pass and attack. With Biggar/Anscombe and Liam Williams/Halfpenny they have the personnel to change the way they play. In the time before the World Cup I would love Wales to work on breaking down defences more and securing their own lineout – two weaknesses so far. As a fan I still can’t get over the potential of this team, they won a Grand Slam but playing pretty poorly for a lot of it.
Against France Wales were gifted two tries through mistakes, they limped past Italy and Scotland. They weathered the storm against an England side who refused to change tactics and kicked them possession all game, and then dominated Ireland. If they can build an attack as effective as their defence, I can see them getting deep in the World Cup. Perhaps even avenging ‘The Red Card of 2011‘ and setting up a World Cup final with the All Blacks.
Those Wales players are professionals in every sense, lead by the mesmeric, talismanic, herculean (yet humble) Alun-Wyn Jones. Huge congratulations to everyone involved. Thanks also to Warren Gatland. The man who took Welsh rugby from a pretty depressing place to where it is today, a global force.
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