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

Excellent by Wales.

The match-winning part of the game being when the Welsh valiantly held out against 30-40 Irish phases without conceding.

Well played Wales that was a fantastic match. Brilliant result that keeps the 6Ns open too.

Phew, that was a stupidly close finish.

Wales pretty much beat Ireland at their own game - chip kicks, lineout mauls, defence and choke tackles. The choke tackles didn't work and Ireland's lineout maul was better, but Wales won the kicking and defence game.

Wow.

I need a lie down

Ooft some controversial calls from Barnes late on in that game!

Still on balance Wales deserved to win that - Ireland had plenty chances but Wales' defence was superb

No way was that a penalty to Wales. Ireland destroyed that scrum!!!

Hard to tell on maul whether that was right or not, would like to see it again. If not collapse then scrum Wales is correct as ball unavailable from maul.

Final scrum looked correct call to me. Ireland clearly not driving straight (don't blame them, they needed to try something). Decision was not for off-side (commentators are daft), rather Barnes was saying "far side" and indicating driving across from the Irish loose-head.

Commiserations ireland, but an awesome welsh performance. Had ireland won then the GS would have been well deserved, still think they might win on PD. Welsh defense was spectacular.

What a game. Absolutely outstanding - Wales good value for that win, all told.

Intense game. Great defence by both sides (especially Wales).

A narrow Wales win is a perfect result for England

LeinsterFan4life wrote:Shambolic from Barnes. Ruined his game

best reffing performance of the 6Ns. without his consistency inthe first half, that amazing 2nd half would never have happened.

ireland have only themselves to blame. even if barnes had given them a penalty for the maul going down (couldnt have been pen try as barnes was not 100% certain it was deliberate and by Wales), ireland would still have needed to regather the ball and score another 4 points just to draw.

Gutted. Well done Wales.

tigertattie wrote:No way was that a penalty to Wales. Ireland destroyed that scrum!!!

by driving illegally. As per HoH said earlier, being destroyed/going backwards in the scrum is not an offence.

Duty281 wrote:The match-winning part of the game being when the Welsh valiantly held out against 30-40 Irish phases without conceding.

Indeed. That was the turning point.

They must be shattered

tigertattie wrote:No way was that a penalty to Wales. Ireland destroyed that scrum!!!

pen was for offside. not the scrum.

Wales win the Raeborn Shield.

Congrats.

Hopefully this shows Schmidt he needs to do some immense work on the attack

RDW_Scotland wrote:Ooft some controversial calls from Barnes late on in that game!

Still on balance Wales deserved to win that - Ireland had plenty chances but Wales' defence was superb

I wish it wouldn't come down to the decisions by Barnes, but we knew it was coming. Wales deserved to win based on that defensive performance, fair play to them.

Barnes had a good game. Showed both sides how to behave in the first half and (when they got the hang of it) we got a brilliant 2nd half.

Best game of the tournament so far (not saying much though ).

Well played Wales - good game.

quinsforever wrote:

tigertattie wrote:No way was that a penalty to Wales. Ireland destroyed that scrum!!!

pen was for offside. not the scrum.

Nah don't think so. Secondary signal was for not driving straight, and I think Barnes said "far side" rather than "offside" which is what the commentators thought.

Still think it was correct though.

Not going to blame anything on Barnes, it was a fine performance from Wales. Out Irelanded Ireland and showed Ireland up for their poor tactics.

Golden wrote:Wales win the Raeborn Shield.

Congrats.

Hopefully this shows Schmidt he needs to do some immense work on the attack

The most worrying difference was the speed of service when Reddan replaced Murray.

well played wales. deserved that win.

6Ns still very wide open!

Rory_Gallagher wrote:

Golden wrote:Wales win the Raeborn Shield.

Congrats.

Hopefully this shows Schmidt he needs to do some immense work on the attack

The most worrying difference was the speed of service when Reddan replaced Murray.

Absolutely, Murray has had a great season and plays the tactics well but sometimes he needs to up the pace.

Well done Wales and Gatland. Outplayed and outthought Ireland.

Well done Wales. Enjoyed the game. If (note the big if) England beat Scotland then it'll make the last weekend interesting with three sides going for the win (and if all three teams win it'll purely down to PD)

Mike Selig wrote:

quinsforever wrote:

tigertattie wrote:No way was that a penalty to Wales. Ireland destroyed that scrum!!!

pen was for offside. not the scrum.

Nah don't think so. Secondary signal was for not driving straight, and I think Barnes said "far side" rather than "offside" which is what the commentators thought.

Still think it was correct though.

i missed that. thought the backs were not behind the back foot when the irish forward bent down to pick the ball out of the scrum, hence why offside made sense to me as a call. am sure you are right.

what a great second half.

I thought Barnes was even handed and consistent throughout even with those tough calls at the end. Commiserations to Ireland though - you pushed it right to the very end just as everyone expected. Ireland still real contenders for everything in my eyes!!

So Wales need to make up a 21 point deficit on Ireland, England need to make up 8 points.

Still wide open.

Will be an exciting final weekend anyway, with everyone wanting to rack up the points.

I don't get why folk are moaning about Barnes!

He pinged both sides during the whole of the first half because both sides were repeatedly offending.

2nd half both teams started playing rugby rather than infringing so Barnes had less work to do!

Rory_Gallagher wrote:

Golden wrote:Wales win the Raeborn Shield.

Congrats.

Hopefully this shows Schmidt he needs to do some immense work on the attack

The most worrying difference was the speed of service when Reddan replaced Murray.

Yeah when Reddan came on it was the first time since the NZ game that Ireland have looked like a really threatening side.If we need a big score next weekend we might need to consider starting Reddan even though Murray is the superior player overall we need the attacking threat that he brought.

That was intense! Great game Wales. Brilliant defensive effort. Heart is still racing after that. Well there goes a Slam for Ireland, gutted, but still all to play for. Hopefully Scotland can keep it tight with England .... but not against us next game.

Ireland played some of their best stuff with ball in hand this 6 Nations, but the Welsh defence was just brilliant

tigertattie wrote:I don't get why folk are moaning about Barnes!

He pinged both sides during the whole of the first half because both sides were repeatedly offending.

2nd half both teams started playing rugby rather than infringing so Barnes had less work to do!

Nope 2nd half he just stopped blowing for stuff he had been blowing for in the 1st half,totally inconsistent and just plain wrong in a large amount of instances for both sides.

Greatly enjoyed game. I do think Ireland have to think about why with all that ball they did not score a try (except PT from maul). Sexton is a great player in some ways but it is a very limited game. High kicks, kicks over the top, occasional kick passes. Do you see a trend?

I think that the criticism directed towards Barnes is not one of favoring one side. I think that its more directed at how pedantic he is. He was terribly pedantic in the first 25mins but consistent. After that, he was absolutely fine. The last 2 decisions at the end, I don't agree with but that's the nature of the game.

Wales, simply outplayed Ireland. I always said that its great to have a solid defensive approach to a game but it will not win games all the time. Today, Wales played the Irish style and defended Ireland off the park but also had that extra ability to spread the ball and be attacking when times needed. This is something that Ireland do not have. Ireland have no attacking instincts anymore and look totally clueless when on attack. The no risk approach has worked but has been found out today, just as I had feared.

WHAT was the final score? Did not see the end of the game.

Great game. A question to Irish fans; do you think Schmidt should have made changes sooner at 9/10? Ireland seemed much more threatening at the end (although I suppose you could put this down to tired Welsh legs, etc).

definitely the best 2nd half of rugby i have seen for a long time, Ireland had so many opportunities and made poor decisions, Sextn frankly had a shocker with the boot. Very strange performance from him. Felt Irish dominated up front too and certainly had we not defeated their line out then i think their scrum advantage would have done us. Epic performances from AWJ, Warby and Faletau….and though Scott Williams was magical and needs to get more pitch time, Doc was outstanding as were Williams and Biggar.

asoreleftshoulder wrote:

tigertattie wrote:I don't get why folk are moaning about Barnes!

He pinged both sides during the whole of the first half because both sides were repeatedly offending.

2nd half both teams started playing rugby rather than infringing so Barnes had less work to do!

Nope 2nd half he just stopped blowing for stuff he had been blowing for in the 1st half,totally inconsistent and just plain wrong in a large amount of instances for both sides.

I thought it was because both teams had adapted. I did hear him saying good work to players on both sides for making an effort to get out the way in the 2nd half.

Nachos Jones_1 wrote:I think that the criticism directed towards Barnes is not one of favoring one side. I think that its more directed at how pedantic he is. He was terribly pedantic in the first 25mins but consistent. After that, he was absolutely fine. The last 2 decisions at the end, I don't agree with but that's the nature of the game.

Wales, simply outplayed Ireland. I always said that its great to have a solid defensive approach to a game but it will not win games all the time. Today, Wales played the Irish style and defended Ireland off the park but also had that extra ability to spread the ball and be attacking when times needed. This is something that Ireland do not have. Ireland have no attacking instincts anymore and look totally clueless when on attack. The no risk approach has worked but has been found out today, just as I had feared.

For the first one it was a Irish rolling maul which went down and became unplayable. Scrum Wales I think is fair. The wheeling of the scrum makes sense too although its harder to judge from the telly.

We lost the game with our inability to orchestrate any kind of attack or take overlaps when they were on. In this regard Biggar and Webb were much better then Murray and Sexton IMO

Nachos Jones_1 wrote:I think that the criticism directed towards Barnes is not one of favoring one side. I think that its more directed at how pedantic he is. He was terribly pedantic in the first 25mins but consistent. After that, he was absolutely fine. The last 2 decisions at the end, I don't agree with but that's the nature of the game.

Wales, simply outplayed Ireland. I always said that its great to have a solid defensive approach to a game but it will not win games all the time. Today, Wales played the Irish style and defended Ireland off the park but also had that extra ability to spread the ball and be attacking when times needed. This is something that Ireland do not have. Ireland have no attacking instincts anymore and look totally clueless when on attack. The no risk approach has worked but has been found out today, just as I had feared.

My problem with Barnes is that he ignores blatant penalties particularly at the scrum, Jenkins in the first half was diving across the scrum from the engage and was never penalised then Ireland when they drove Wales back ended up with the Welsh front row standing up and Warburton binding onto the Irish backrow with nothing given, other than that in open play he got everything pretty much right

Well played by Wales - very impressive defensive effort.

majesticimperialman wrote:WHAT was the final score? Did not see the end of the game.

Wales won 23-16.

Golden wrote:

Nachos Jones_1 wrote:I think that the criticism directed towards Barnes is not one of favoring one side. I think that its more directed at how pedantic he is. He was terribly pedantic in the first 25mins but consistent. After that, he was absolutely fine. The last 2 decisions at the end, I don't agree with but that's the nature of the game.

Wales, simply outplayed Ireland. I always said that its great to have a solid defensive approach to a game but it will not win games all the time. Today, Wales played the Irish style and defended Ireland off the park but also had that extra ability to spread the ball and be attacking when times needed. This is something that Ireland do not have. Ireland have no attacking instincts anymore and look totally clueless when on attack. The no risk approach has worked but has been found out today, just as I had feared.

For the first one it was a Irish rolling maul which went down and became unplayable. Scrum Wales I think is fair. The wheeling of the scrum makes sense too although its harder to judge from the telly.

Thought that Wales brought down the maul myself so should have resulted in an Irish scrum or penalty (hard to award a penalty at that stage without it being a penalty try). The scrum, I thought Wales took a deliberate step backwards right and caused the wheel, reset Ireland ball. That's how I saw it anyways.

Quite possibly the best defensive performance I have seen from Wales. 214 tackles as a team and 37 from Charteris alone.

In many ways, Ireland have only themselves to blame. They dominated possession and ran the ball almost 3 times as far as Wales, but a lack of precision and poor decison making cost them dear. Wales demonstrated the benefit of taking the points are available.

Great performance Wales. What a defensive shift and then a lesson in turning pressure into points. Rory Best had another wobble with his throwing, which certainly cost Ireland one very good position. Then our try indirectly came from his throw on his own five. Strauss has to start next game. Still think it's Ireland's championship, as we won't get a big win (if any) in Rome and I don't expect them to slip up v Scotland and let England in.

Nachos Jones_1 wrote:
Thought that Wales brought down the maul myself so should have resulted in an Irish scrum or penalty (hard to award a penalty at that stage without it being a penalty try). The scrum, I thought Wales took a deliberate step backwards right and caused the wheel, reset Ireland ball. That's how I saw it anyways.

Disagree. Wales did the utmist to avoid pulling it down, Ireland wheeled to the left and stumbled over their own players.

LondonTiger wrote:Quite possibly the best defensive performance I have seen from Wales. 214 tackles as a team and 37 from Charteris alone.

Really?

Wow! What's the 6Ns record?

Charteris is some player for us defensively.

Best's darts were way off today.

I've not seen the Irish line-out so vulnerable in a long time (or Wales' doing so well).