Ireland Overpower Wales

A strong Ireland combination put away an inexperienced Welsh side in a World
Cup warm-up Test at Lansdowne Road.

The Irish scored five tries all through forwards Paul O’Connell twice, Alan
Quinlan, David Wallace, and Malcolm O’Kelly. David Humphreys added the extra
points to four of the tries before limping off with a leg injury with Geordan
Murlphy also adding a conversion.

Wales replied with tries from both their wingers Gareth Thomas and Garan Evans
with Iestyn Harris adding a conversion. Ireland were expected to romp home without
too much trouble, but Wales provided a much more stern opposition than expected.
However, for the first game of the season, both coaches will be happy with some
aspects of their side’s performance with Eddie O’Sullivan likely to be the happier.

Ireland looked set for a big score when they opening their account in the fifth
minute when lock O’Connell powered over after some excellent open continuity
play. However, Wales stunned a lackadaisical Irish when they stole a line-out
and had numbers wide to enable skipper Thomas to touch down on the right. That
shook Ireland up a little, but intense Welsh tackling held their line intact
until the 29th minute.

Once again the hard work was done by the pack, and this time it was flanker
Quinlan, a late replacement for Victor Costello, who crashed over at the posts
with Humphreys again converting. Wales, despite down to 14 men when Iestyn Harris
was yellow carded for a fairly innocuous high tackle on Anthony Horgan, kept
their line intact with some excellent defensive work.

But two tries immediately on the restart put Ireland firmly in the driving
seat. Both touchdowns came from attacks from deep with first Wallace starting
and finishing a movement in the 41st minute. Wallace was playing his first game
for over a season, and was a half-time replacement for the injured Anthony Foley.

Three minutes later a break by Murphy carried on by Humphreys set up Malcolm
O’Kelly to thunder over at the posts for Ireland’s fourth converted try. Wales
did look dangerous when their backs got a little space, but the Irish defence
was equally alert to stifle out danger. But the game drifted into a type of
training spin later in the second half as both coaches ran their replacement
benches.

But Wales did look the more dangerous and scored a superb try when a break
up the left wing saw debutant Nicky Robinson put in a neat kick over the Irish
defence for Evans to collect and easily score. Ireland had the final say of
the game two minutes from the end when after a line-out, O’Connell charged over
for his second try, and virtually booked his place on the flight to Australia.

Minute x Minute
Action

Ireland: G Murphy; S Horgan, B O’Driscoll, K Maggs, A Horgan; D Humphreys,
P Stringer; R Corrigan, K Wood, capt, S Best, M O’Kelly, P O’Connell, A Quinlan,
A Foley, K Gleeson.
Replacements: J Fitzpatrick, S Byrne, D O’Callaghan, D Wallace, G Easterby,
G D’Arcy, G Dempsey.

Wales: N Robinson; G Evans, J Robinson, I Harris, G Thomas, capt; C
Sweeney, D Peel; D Jones, M Davies, B Evans, M Owen, G Llewellyn, R Oakley,
R Parks, A Popham.
Replacements: H Bennett, G Jenkins, V Cooper, R Sowden-Taylor, A Williams, A
Marinos, N Brew.

Referee: Joel Dumé (France).