Title Decider 2: Wales v Ireland 14 March

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WALES v IRELAND
Saturday 14 March 2015
KO: 14:30
Millennium Stadium, Cardiff

Referee: Wayne Barnes (RFU)
AR1: Chris Pollock (NZR)
AR2: Federico Anselmi (UAR)
TMO: Graham Hughes (RFU)

*****

The bookies are keeping with their earlier predictions of no GS winner above Ireland's chances. And same for the Triple Crown.  Though they have Ireland as favourites in Cardiff but not by much.

Given the distinct love-in that we've had over the last fortnight between Irish and English fans, are Wales now the new 'old enemy'?

Keep it clean folks.

Well a bit anyway.

Ireland team:
15. Rob Kearney (UCD/Leinster) 14. Tommy Bowe (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster) 13. Jared Payne (Ulster) 12. Robbie Henshaw (Buccaneers/Connacht) 11. Simon Zebo (Cork Constitution/Munster) 10. Jonathan Sexton (Racing Metro 92) 9. Conor Murray (Garryowen/Munster)
1. Jack McGrath (St. Mary's College/Leinster) 2. Rory Best (Banbridge/Ulster) 3. Mike Ross (Clontarf/Leinster) 4. Devin Toner (Lansdowne/Leinster) 5. Paul O'Connell (Young Munster/Munster) (capt) 6. Peter O'Mahony (Cork Constitution/Munster) 7. Sean O'Brien (UCD/Leinster) 8. Jamie Heaslip (Dublin University/Leinster)

Replacements: 16. Sean Cronin (St. Mary's College/Leinster) 17. Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster) 18. Martin Moore (Lansdowne/Leinster) 19. Iain Henderson (Ballynahinch/Ulster) 20. Jordi Murphy (Lansdowne/Leinster) 21. Eoin Reddan (Lansdowne/Leinster) 22. Ian Madigan (Blackrock College/Leinster) 23. Felix Jones (Shannon/Munster)

Wales Team: Webb, Roberts, Biggar, North, Williams, Halfpenny, Davies, Jones, Falateau, Warburton, Jenkins, Baldwin, Lee.
Replacements: R Hibbard R Evans A Jarvis , J Ball J Tipuric , M Phillips , R Priestland , S Williams

barnes hadnt given webb the nodd. so he couldnt have put it in

Schmidt has a lot to do at half time. Ireland are being found out for their one dimensional tactics by being easily read by the Welsh defense.

Time to see if Ireland have a plan B, right now I am not so sure they do.

I did not expect Wales to be in lead at half time to be honest.

I think Barnes is having a good game so far.

He did

well it evened out because that should have been a pen to wales for heaslip catching the knockon in an offside position.

LeinsterFan4life wrote:Well done Webb there delayed the put in to the scrum. Smart play.

I take it you're not familiar with the rules of the game?

Ireland have shown that they also close down after 60-65 minutes, cant do that today. Cant see anything but a Welsh win from here.

What? He did delay the put in, its smart play... Ive seen Murray do it aswell.

quinsforever wrote:nothing to do with barnes. everything to do with the deliberate slowing down of both sides.

He's far too quick to ping round the tackle area and that is ruining the game, slowing it down and turning it into a penalty contest

tigertattie wrote:

LeinsterFan4life wrote:Well done Webb there delayed the put in to the scrum. Smart play.

I take it you're not familiar with the rules of the game?

I take it you're not familiar with the laws of the game?

keith wood so hates being in cardiff and losing to Gatland's Wales. seems like he is struggling to contain his emotions.

gotta love rugby

LeinsterFan4life wrote:What? He did delay the put in, its smart play... Ive seen Murray do it aswell.

No, a SH cannot put the ball into the scrum until the Ref indicated, or it is a free kick to the opposition

It's part of the new scrum interpretations

Gwlad wrote:

quinsforever wrote:nothing to do with barnes. everything to do with the deliberate slowing down of both sides.

He's far too quick to ping round the tackle area and that is ruining the game, slowing it down and turning it into a penalty contest

The teams consistently slowing the ball down is what is ruining the game, not Barnes correctly penalising them for it.

Surprisingly (not) a lot fewer penalties in the last 10 mins or so, and more rugby being played.

The ref did give him the signal Wales606. But he delayed a couple of seconds in hope of the team pushing early.

Its smart play why are people getting so fussy over this. Murray has also used it in this 6n

Two scrum penalties were ridiculous. First one Wales were obviously going backwards. Second Webb was delaying to put it in. Aside from that, very close game. Wales weathered the storm well.

LeinsterFan4life wrote:The ref did give him the signal Wales606. But he delayed a couple of seconds in hope of the team pushing early.

Fair enough, I didn't notice.

Ireland were clearly pushing early before the ball was in though, I guessed Barnes would call it

Mike Selig wrote:

Gwlad wrote:

quinsforever wrote:nothing to do with barnes. everything to do with the deliberate slowing down of both sides.

He's far too quick to ping round the tackle area and that is ruining the game, slowing it down and turning it into a penalty contest

The teams consistently slowing the ball down is what is ruining the game, not Barnes correctly penalising them for it.

Surprisingly (not) a lot fewer penalties in the last 10 mins or so, and more rugby being played.

Because Warburton was off

good performance by Barnes so far. forcing 2 fairly cynical/canny/professiona/ (delete as you feel appropriate) packs to stop infringing at breakdown.

maybe the pro12 needs to be reffed by more refs who are as hot on the whistle as Barnes? after all, most SH refs also view the breakdown the same way.

quinsforever wrote:well it evened out because that should have been a pen to wales for heaslip catching the knockon in an offside position.

And POC clearly obstructing a Welsh defender from coming across ... that would have given Wales time for one more attack in the 1st half.

Marshes wrote:Two scrum penalties were ridiculous. First one Wales were obviously going backwards. Second Webb was delaying to put it in. Aside from that, very close game. Wales weathered the storm well.

You do know it's not illegal to go backwards? And, I've heard it said, that sometimes teams cheat to gain an advantage. For the other one Barnes lifted his hand but it's not clear if he indicate the ball to go in or not. It looked like he was indicating for Webb to wait.

expect Healy to come on quickly and turn the screw…can't see us winning this now

Ireland attack looks completely clueless in this attack. Great defence from Wales though

That attack was like watching league without the 6th tackle...

How can you have so many fases of play like that and not score a try?

Why is no one taking the ball on the run? Everyone is so static

excellent reffing by barnes.

pen right in the end. but irish players trying to con a pen by holding the player and preventing him rolling away.

Finally. Some decent entertainment.

Healy on

Never cheered so loudly at a Welsh penalty

ireland really looking tired now

great passage of play by both sides.

Unbelievable ball retention from Ireland and defence by Wales

best period of defense i have ever seen by a rugby team. fact

The lack of vision in Ireland is amazing, had numbers on numerous occasions and still could not really generate a try scoring opportunity. One dimensional and poor. Good defense by Wales but really poor from Ireland.

Nice to see the game played without the defenders rolling the wrong way and slowing the ball down.

am probably going to jinx it, but hard to see ireland win after not scoring from those two passges of play.

If Wales do lose to today, it will be their fault. because at the moment Ireland look clueless.

Breadvan wrote:That attack was like watching league without the 6th tackle...

We did have one maul within those 40 phases. sexton was a bit predictable in his choices I thought

As a neutral, this has to be game of the tournament. Incredible. What amazing defence from Wales, and they've taken the momentum.

A Welsh try there would've killed Ireland after those earlier phases amounting to nothing.

great great rugby both teams. shame about the last pass by biggar.

The Welsh line-out has completely dominated today.

jbeadlesbigrighthand wrote:As a neutral, this has to be game of the tournament. Incredible. What amazing defence from Wales, and they've taken the momentum.

barnes set this up by blowing everything in the first half. now they know they cant infringe so its awesome to watch

Biggar pulling the strings here a lot better then Sexton did

Well done Wales. Much the better team so far

try for Wales

And that's the difference, Wales score from their chance.

If the score ends something like this Wales are in a really good place to top the table

Less than 20 phases to score : well done Wales

Ireland's game has been shown up here. The lack of pace in the backline is so evident here.

Huge try, surely deflates the Irish momentum. They're doing what England did in Dublin and Wales have responded magnificently.