Brian O’Driscoll led the charge as the men in green outscored Wales six tries to two with replacement centre Tom Shanklin crossing twice late on. If Wales had any hopes of getting off to a similar start as they did against Scotland then they were short lived as Ireland took just sixty seconds to score the game’s first try.
The Irish driving maul was unstoppable, as it so proved all game, with Wales’s defence covering one way, hooker Shane Byrne peeled off the back to race over in the other direction. Ronan O’Gara converted.
Stephen Jones converted a penalty to narrow the gap to 7-3 but it was to be the closest Wales would be to Ireland who had the game all but won by half time. Gareth Thomas beat O’Driscoll to a kick through, but it only delayed the process as the Irishman burst over from close range moments later.
Wales steadied the ship but when Iestyn Harris saw his kick charged down by O’Gara, who won the race to the ball to score, the game was all but lost.
Byrne grabbed his second on the stroke of half time after Simon Easterby’s take at the lineout, memories of the hammering two years ago that cost Graham Henry his job came flooding back.
The start of the second half brought little respite for Wales as a buoyant Ireland began to throw caution to the wind. A delightful reverse pass by Peter Stringer sent Anthony Foley over on forty-eight minutes and O’Driscoll scored his second just five minutes later after a searing break by Keith Gleeson.
After an hour’s punishment, Wales finally got their game together in the final twenty minutes, sparked by the arrival of Shanklin and Michael Owen from the bench.
Shanklin’s first followed good driving work by Gethin Jenkins before the ball was spun out via Stephen Jones, Harris and a neat pass by skipper Martyn Williams. While the Blues centre had his colleagues to thank for that score, his second was all his own work, crashing through four tackles on his way to the line.
The scores helped ease the pain of the scoreboard but Steve Hansen knows he still has plenty of work to do before facing France in Cardiff in two week’s time.
