Brutal collisions of bone and muscle, where the gainline was often measured in millimetres of turf, the physical toll equally exacting whether in possession or awaiting the ball-carrier and his cohorts.
The tackle zone was a maelstrom of testosterone. Jack McGrath didn't expect to play the 80-minutes but he did. The 26-year-old Leinster loosehead prop didn't know that he led Ireland's tackle count – he was joint top with number eight Jamie Heaslip – but he did.
It was one of those Six Nations afternoons when there wasn't much time to dwell on anything. McGrath never stopped, often contributing several times in one passage of play.
There was one classic illustration of his work ethic in the first half when he scragged Welsh scrumhalf Gareth Davies, prising the ball loose to pre-empt an old-fashioned Irish ‘foot-rush’ from their 22, and before a whistle was blown again, made two tackles and a carry.
He epitomised Ireland's tenacity and bloody-mindedness in carrying the game to the visitors in the first half. There were collective imperfections, notably the scrum before the interval, as referee Jérôme Garcès was happier with the picture that the Wales eight presented to his eye. Ireland rectified the shortcoming at half-time.
McGrath looked remarkably fresh in the aftermath. No one asked him how he felt. When his tackle count (16) was pointed out, he admitted: “I didn’t know that but always good to get up on the tackle count. I try to work as hard as I can. I wasn’t expecting to play 80 but happy to get it under my belt.”
Less enthusiastic
He was less enthusiastic about the result. “Obviously disappointed with the result. Being 13-0 up and letting them back into it is something that we are definitely going to have to work on, but then again Wales coming back [to lead] 16-13, I think we fought back well.
“We could have gone into our shells but we showed a bit of fighting spirit, which is good going over to France, because we will need it.” The scrum was something of a bugbear but he could offer no immediate diagnosis of the problem.
“We knew that it would be messy and we probably didn’t work the referee well enough either. It improved a little bit in the second half but we will have to look pretty closely at the first half and see where we went wrong.”
Lamented
He explained that the Irish team set a target of dominating the collisions, which they did for a time, but lamented that “the last 10 minutes of the first half we let them back into it, which isn’t good enough.
“I’ll have to look at the game again but at the moment it is really disappointing. Letting them back is not what you want to be doing. I thought our discipline was quite good in parts and then let us down in other parts, so it’s a bit of a balancing game that we do have to play.
“And yeah, we probably got on the wrong side of the referee in the scrums in the first half. I thought we did well to fight back out of a bit of a hole there, it showed a bit of experience and fighting spirit.”
Ireland go to Paris next Saturday so McGrath took a casual interest in their fortuitous victory over Italy. There will be plenty of time for the official homework. “That is what you’re getting with France, we can’t really concentrate on their chaotic [patterns].
“We just have to focus on our roles and on what we have to do. If we’re trying to chase them and play as they play, you can’t play like that, if they’re throwing offloads. We’re going to have to be aware of every single player. They are a pretty athletic and skilful team and we’re going to have to be awake to that.”
