Wales v Ireland

Date:

Venue: Millennium Stadium, Cardiff

Referee: Wayne Barnes (RFU)

Attendance: 73,950

Wales v Ireland Match Reports

Wales beat Ireland 23-16 in a Cardiff thriller to end Irish hopes of a Grand Slam and throw the Six Nations Championship wide open. Wales raced into an early 12-0 lead thanks to four Leigh Halfpenny penalty kicks, but Ireland came back into the game with three penalties from Johnny Sexton's boot to end the first half 15-9 down. Ireland attacked for long periods after the break, but Wales withstood the pressure and scored a try of their own through replacement centre Scott Williams in the 64th minute. Ireland responded with a converted penalty try in the 69th minute, but a fifth Halfpenny penalty kick and a solid defence saw Wales to a well deserved victory. A selection of match reports is listed below:

Wales v Ireland Match Highlights

Wales v Ireland Match Statistics

Wales 23 (15)
Tries: Williams
Penalties: Halfpenny (5)
Drop-goals: Biggar

Ireland 16 (9)
Tries: Penalty
Conversions: Sexton
Penalties: Sexton (3)

Man of the Match: Sam Warburton (Wales)

Wales Team Line-up

Forwards

  • 1 Gethin Jenkins
  • 2 Scott Baldwin
  • 3 Samson Lee
  • 4 Luke Charteris
  • 5 Alun Wyn Jones
  • 6 Dan Lydiate
  • 7 Sam Warburton (Captain)
  • 8 Taulupe Faletau

Backs

  • 9 Rhys Webb
  • 10 Dan Biggar
  • 11 Liam Williams
  • 12 Jamie Roberts
  • 13 Jonathan Davies
  • 14 George North
  • 15 Leigh Halfpenny

Replacements

  • 16 Richard Hibbard
  • 17 Rob Evans
  • 18 Aaron Jarvis
  • 19 Jake Ball
  • 20 Justin Tipuric
  • 21 Mike Phillips
  • 22 Rhys Priestland
  • 23 Scott Williams

Ireland Team Line-up

Forwards

  • 1 Jack McGrath
  • 2 Rory Best
  • 3 Mike Ross
  • 4 Devin Toner
  • 5 Paul O'Connell (Captain)
  • 6 Peter O'Mahony
  • 7 Sean O'Brien
  • 8 Jamie Heaslip

Backs

  • 9 Conor Murray
  • 10 Johnny Sexton
  • 11 Simon Zebo
  • 12 Robbie Henshaw
  • 13 Jared Payne
  • 14 Tommy Bowe
  • 15 Rob Kearney

Replacements

  • 16 Sean Cronin
  • 17 Cian Healy
  • 18 Martin Moore
  • 19 Iain Henderson
  • 20 Jordi Murphy
  • 21 Eoin Reddan
  • 22 Ian Madigan
  • 23 Felix Jones
 
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