It was a 3-0 try victory over the No 4 ranked team in the world and one that ended a run of two successive defeats against England and Scotland. Many had called for changes, but Howley and his coaching team kept faith with the team – and saw them come up trumps in a magnificent match.
“I’m just delighted for the players – they are a good team and don’t let anyone tell you any differently. We dug deep without the ball and we were clinical with it when we needed to be,” said Howley.
“We beat a very good Irish side and I thought we beat them emphatically. There was a lot of quality rugby out there from both sides.
It was a relentless game in defence and our resilience without the ball was fantastic. Over the last couple of weeks we have all looked in the mirror and been hard on ourselves, but they can all stand proud tonight and enjoy themselves.
“I thought the period between 68-72 minutes was key when we held them out. We don’t do it the easy way – we always do it the hard way – but we can grow after this and we can do things better.”
Wales play France in their final fixture in Paris next week and George North will be seeing another try after notching a double at Principality Stadium. That made it 15 in the 6 Nations, 30 for Wales and 10 in his last nine championship outings.
“George North is a quality, world class player. We all have bad games and George was the first to admit that after Scotland,” said Howley. “It is his ambition and his intent that makes him dangerous and we want him on the ball as often as possible.”
