Ireland 31 Wales 5: On one of those days when you can't wait for the old ground to be knocked down and rebuilt, it was perhaps never going to be a classic. A capricious, bitingly cold wind took care of that, but Ireland got there in the end with a hard-working, all-round performance. Indeed, long before the end.
They could still up their intensity levels from the start, but their work-rate in getting a toehold in the game and eventually subduing Wales had to be admired, albeit with a massive helping hand from the visitors, who emotionally imploded after the 22nd minute departure of Stephen Jones and, just as pertinently, the arrival of Gavin Henson.
One can rarely recall the introduction of one player having such a negative effect on his team as did the arrival of Henson.
Ireland's sheer effort was epitomised by Brian O'Driscoll, who again showed he doesn't mind getting down and dirty with the nitty-gritty stuff to lead from the front with a host of important steals in the tackle area when the going was at its toughest.
In this regard, the Munster dogs hungrily went to war up front too, with David Wallace, Marcus Horan and the excellent Jerry Flannery augmenting their basic work with their general work-rate and ball-carrying.
Ireland were slower out of the traps, again, in part because they could have been been more aggressive in some of their tackling and in part because Ronan O'Gara, falling off tackles on Mark and Stephen Jones in the initial sparring, was clearly targeted defensively. To his credit, his defensive work really improved thereafter but as regards Ireland's starts, it's not enough for coach Eddie O'Sullivan to simply repeat the old mantra that the opposition held on to the ball. The needle is stuck.
Ireland might have got their teeth into the biting wind a bit sooner but for a lineout maul becoming disconnected and being penalised for obstruction ahead of the ball-carrying Flannery. In any event, when Matthew Watkins offloaded in a tackle by O'Gara and so did the supporting Dafydd James to make the initial inroads, off another recycle Watkins chipped over the Irish line of defenders. Andrew Trimble, perhaps betraying signs of the inexperienced centre picked on the wing, missed an admittedly awkward bounce and Mark Jones pounced for the try in the corner.
Ireland had to toil to work their way back into the game, and this they did, Wallace setting a good example when manufacturing a steal and a penalty after tackling the strong-running Duncan Jones. Ireland began opting for quicker lineout ball off the top from Simon Easterby and Malcolm O'Kelly, and the Welsh midfield strayed offside when Flannery took a Peter Stringer pass at pace for O'Gara to open Ireland's account.
The unfortunate Henson was soon involved in the pivotal moments in this pivotal match. His attempted chip for Watkins was well read by the sweeping Stringer, whose tap and go off the mark released the pressure. Soon after, off a lineout steal, Trimble showed what an exceptionally dynamic runner with the ball he is by bursting clear up the middle when missed by Henson - his armless tackle a reprise of a failing on the Lions' tour - and the flailing Adam Jones.
If there was a turning point, that was it, and thereafter Henson repeatedly miscued kicks as he struggled to find his range and retreated farther into the pocket.
Soon after, the Irish lineout maul was rumbling toward the Welsh line and earning another penalty. Stringer tapped it to Leamy who was held up over the line by a combination of Henson, the strangely anonymous Martyn Williams and Rhys Thomas.
From the resultant scrum, Wallace moved to number eight and muscled over off the base on the blindside, with the help of some good leg-pumping by O'Kelly and Donncha O'Callaghan.
Again the decision required the help of the South African TMO Marius Jonker.
"There's no reason why you can't award this try," he advised Kaplan, even if the grounding wasn't abundantly clear, although in truth Kaplan should have had the best view of both.
The flow of psychic energy was moving towards Ireland, helped by a couple of excellent steals in the tackle area by O'Driscoll and a kick out on the full by Henson. One lovely exchange in open play between Shane Horgan, O'Driscoll, O'Gara and Flannery saw Wales fullback Lee Byrne deny the latter with a covering tackle. In any event, O'Gara pushed Ireland 11-5 ahead by the break when Byrne played the ball on the deck after tackling Horgan.
The next score was critical and there was a near inevitability about it going to Ireland. Again, there'd been a neat interchange off a missed touch by Henson involving Geordan Murphy, Horgan and O'Driscoll and the continuing territorial supremacy owed plenty to Henson's wayward boot.
Ireland's back-line threat off set-piece ball, as good as anybody's in this championship, owed as much to the support lines of the decoys as the handling. O'Gara skipped Gordon D'Arcy in hitting O'Driscoll, with Trimble's run also straightening the defence, and although that pass was a bit high and O'Driscoll's a bit low in missing Murphy to find Horgan, he had clearly seen James rush up and leave himself exposed. When James turned back out, Horgan simply cut inside the winger and Byrne - both almost literally heading out the gate after an accusing look from Hal Luscombe - for a well-taken try.
A good rumble by O'Callaghan and clear-out by Flannery enabled O'Gara to extend the lead, and despite hitting the outside of the upright from in front of the posts, the outhalf made it 24-5 nearing the hour-mark. By now Stringer had spoiled Michael Owen's pick-up at the base and was even outshining the demoralised Dwayne Peel - who was becoming slower to the breakdown and chucked out two untypically bad passes - with one searing blindside break off a scrum.
The rush defence was growing more and more confident, so too Murphy at the back. One lineout rumble having been denied after further recourse to the TMO, which also saw a frustrated Leamy binned for kicking Owen after the whistle, Stringer wormed over in the final play and raced back to half-way.Deadly from two inches.
SCORING SEQUENCE: 8 mins: M Jones try 0-5; 16: O'Gara pen 3-5; 25: Wallace try 8-5; 35: O'Gara pen 11-5; (half-time 11-5); 44: Horgan try, O'Gara con 18-5; 48: O'Gar a pen 21-5; 59: O'Gara pen 24-5; 84: Stringer try, O'Gara con 31-5.
IRELAND: G Murphy (Leicester); S Horgan (Leinster), B O'Driscoll (Leinster, Capt), G D'Arcy (Leinster), A Trimble (Ulster); R O'Gara (Munster), P Stringer (Munster); M Horan (Munster), J Flannery (Munster), J Hayes (Munster), D O'Callaghan (Munster), M O'Kelly (Leinster), S Easterby (Llanelli), D Wallace (Munster), D Leamy (Munster). Replacements: S Best (Ulster) for Horan (69 mins), J O'Connor (Wasps) for Wallace (77 mins), M O'Driscoll (Munster) for Easterby (79 mins), R Best (Ulster) for Flannery (80 mins). Not used: E Reddan (Wasps), D Humphreys (Ulster), G Dempsey (Leinster). Sinbinned: D Leamy (79 mins).
WALES: L Byrne (Llanelli Scarlets); M Jones (Llanelli Scarlets), H Luscombe (Newport Gwent Dragons), M Watkins (Llanelli Scarlets), D James (Llanelli Scarlets); S Jones (Clermont Auvergne), D Peel (Llanelli Scarlets); D Jones (Ospreys), R Thomas (Cardiff Blues), A Jones (Ospreys), I Gough (Newport Gwent Dragons), R Sidoli (Cardiff Blues), C Charvis (Newcastle Falcons), M Williams (Cardiff Blues), M Owen (Newport Gwent Dragons, capt). Replacements: G Henson (Ospreys) for S Jones (20 mins), G Jenkins (Cardiff Blues) for D Jones (44 mins), G Delve (Bath) for Charvis (56 mins), M Davies (Gloucester) for Thomas (61 mins). Not used: J Thomas (Ospreys), M Phillips (Cardiff Blues), B Davies (Llanelli Scarlets).
Referee: Jonathan Kaplan (South Africa).
