Irish douse Dragons’ fire
4 Feb 2007
Ireland took their first step towards the Six Nations trophy with a 19-9 victory against Wales in Cardiff.
The pre-tournment favourites scored three tries to nil, but were pushed all the way by a committed home side missing the influential Gareth Thomas.
It took Ireland just 45 seconds to score the game’s first try, when Stephen Jones’s kick was charged down by Brian O’Driscoll and Rory Best dived on the loose ball.
Jones made amends to some extent with three penalties before O’Driscoll stepped past Kevin Morgan to score in the right-hand corner. O’Gara slotted the touchline conversion to make it 12-9 at the break.
The second half was closely contested and it was only in the 71st minute that Ireland sealed the victory. Having sucked in the majority of the Welsh defenders, the visitors attacked the blindside with O’Gara going over in the right-hand corner. The flyhalf got back to his feet to kick another touchline conversion for a 10-point cushion.
Ireland coach Eddie O’Sullivan will be particularly pleased with the performance of Gordon D’Arcy, who was deservedly named Man of the Match. The midfielder was dangerous with ball in hand, and outshone O’Driscoll on the day.
Wales – Penalties: Stephen Jones (3).
Ireland – Tries: David Leamy, Brian O’Driscoll, Ronan O’Gara. Conversions: Ronon O’Gara (2).
19 Comments
4 Feb 2007, 17:53 pm
Looks like a tight one.
4 Feb 2007, 17:54 pm
Go Paddy’s. Up the Irish.
4 Feb 2007, 17:54 pm
Ireland should take it though
And i am first Hooraah!
4 Feb 2007, 18:00 pm
Silence # 3
Feet on the ground now. Easy does it. Hehehehee.
4 Feb 2007, 18:00 pm
cant believ they are leading by so little
4 Feb 2007, 18:12 pm
O’Gara and Jones would have to be the most one dimentional and dull 10s playing at test level today. They will be found out come WC.
4 Feb 2007, 18:24 pm
the standard of this game is phenomenal – streets ahead of what we’ve seen in s14 so far
4 Feb 2007, 18:43 pm
the skill levels are lower then on offer at S14 but agree the game is better then any seen in the S14 first round.
4 Feb 2007, 18:51 pm
Well done Ireland!!
4 Feb 2007, 19:06 pm
wow – after seeing this game makes me want to go to Dublin next w/end. I think Irish team problems are going to be with injuries. Good performance by both Wales and Ireland
4 Feb 2007, 19:17 pm
charo, this was a test, super 14 is not.
4 Feb 2007, 19:25 pm
Knersbot, S14, NH test rugby..whats the difference?. Think quite a few S14 sides could give the six nation sides a good run for their money.
4 Feb 2007, 19:37 pm
This game was a breath of fresh air!
The guy’s played hard phycisical running rugby.
Either side would have put 20 past the bulls!
4 Feb 2007, 20:20 pm
Either side would have put 40 past the Stormers as well.
4 Feb 2007, 20:31 pm
If Stormers and Bulls played at home then I very much doubt that they woul dloose – however if they played in Europe then yes a good 20-40 would have been put on them. Rugby is played differently in Northern Hempishere and they play a better game from a technical angle. They do a lot of the ‘basic’ things differnt due to the weather conditions and on a day like today they can turn things around to produce a more flowing game. They can adapt to changes in conditions better. SA sides can’t do this even between OZ NZ and SA where conditions are similar. Would love to see any SA side play in a ‘mud bath’ and not let opersite team put past 30-50. Hence the reason of not selecting players who are not in SA to play for Boks is also putting us behind. I think they should make it that a player plays at least one season in Europe before they can be seelcted for Boks.
4 Feb 2007, 20:36 pm
all_stormers, this weekends 6 nations games were all played with clear blue skies on dry fields.
4 Feb 2007, 20:38 pm
yes – but did you notice how the surface cut up even when ‘dry’ – the surface under foot is not as stable – even in game today how many players slipped?
4 Feb 2007, 20:43 pm
Fair comment.
5 Feb 2007, 16:36 pm
This was an Awesome game, very very close.
Whoever is even comparing test rugby to Super 14 rugby is a poepal lol.
Its Two different things compleetly.
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