• Ireland 19-10 Wales: Best in victorious send-off in Rugby World Cup warm-up

    Wales avoided a repeat of 2015's pre-Rugby World Cup injury problems as Ireland won 19-10 in Dublin on Saturday to take the No.1 ranking.
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    Ireland head to the Rugby World Cup as the highest-ranked side in the world after winning captain Rory Best’s final home match before retirement 19-10 against Wales, who will just be glad to have avoided serious pre-tournament injury scares.

    Wales lost Leigh Halfpenny and Rhys Webb to injuries in their final warm-up game before the 2015 tournament, but a bang on the head for Rhys Patchell – who was able to walk off the pitch unaided – was the only notable issue for Warren Gatland on Saturday.

    Perhaps less superstitious about such situations, Ireland – welcoming Johnny Sexton back into the team – looked far more ruthless and were able to give Best a victorious send-off, with the 37-year-old withdrawn in the 53rd minute.

    An evenly contested opening resulted in neither side adding points to the board until the 21st minute, when Rob Kearney received Conor Murray’s quick offload before touching down in the corner before Sexton added the extras.

    Wales did lose Patchell – making his first Test start since June 2018 – after he sustained a knock to the head in a collision with CJ Stander, though he walked off and the visitors’ initial response was impressive.

    After seeing one opportunity for their first try go begging when Dan Biggar was just about held up, the resulting five-metre scrum came to Hadleigh Parkes to charge over, with Halfpenny converting after a successful earlier penalty.

    Ireland stepped things up after the interval and went back in front when Tadhg Furlong burrowed his way over following another scrum.

    James Ryan followed suit 10 minutes later, touching down despite Aaron Wainwright’s best efforts, leaving coach Joe Schmidt – like Best – triumphant in his final match in Ireland.

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