Wales were down and out at halftime, coming off second best in all departments against the men in green. Ireland had stormed into a commanding 3-23 lead at the break having completely dominated the first half.
However Sam Warburton and his troops came back from the dead in the second half and turned the match on its head. Alex Cuthbert, Leigh Halfpenny and replacement prop Craig Mitchell scored tries to bring Wales right back into contention but Ireland were able to stem the flow at the death to get their championship off to a winning start.
Ireland, who began the match ranked three players lower than Wales in the IRB world rankings took the game to Wales from the outset.
Man of the match Brian O’Driscoll showed he still has what it takes to play at this level with an exquisite pass to Simon Zebo, having already taken out Jonathan Davies and Leigh Halfpenny in the tackle. His sumptuous pass left Alex Cuthbert in no-man’s land as Zebo strolled over untouched. With Sexton’s conversion Ireland had secured an early 0-7 lead.
Ireland continued to remain on the front foot and kept Wales pegged back. The men in green hammered away with winger Craig Gilroy brought down inches short of the line. Conor Murray was next to have a crack but he was repelled by the Welsh defence as well. Eventually new cap Andrew Coombs was penalised at a ruck which gave Sexton a straight forward penalty to give the visitors a 0-10 lead.
Dan Biggar had a clearance kick charged down by hooker Rory Best who clung on the viciously spinning ball. He kept a cool head and passed to Jamie Heaslip who then off loaded to Zebo. The Irish winger then showed deft football skills George Best would have been proud of to hook the ball from behind with his left foot. He regathered to take the ball within five metres of the line. The ball was recycled where upon prop Cian Healy plopped over to score. With Sexton’s conversion, Ireland had shot out to a 0-17 lead. Sexton added a penalty in the 29th minute to put his side 20 points clear.
Halfpenny stopped the rot with a penalty in the 34th minute which seemed to finally awake Wales from their stupor. Warburton, George North and Alex Cuthbert all challenged the Irish defence but it came to nothing as Best locked onto Gethin Jenkins at a ruck and the big prop was penalised for not releasing.
Wales left the pitch at halftime knowing they had a huge mountain to climb with Sexton stretching the lead to 3-23 with the last kick of the half after another Welsh infringement.
There was no early respite in the second half for Warburton’s men as Ireland attacked with intent from the re-start. Rob Kearney took Ireland to within sniffing distance of the try-line before O’Driscoll caught the Welsh defence napping to score his 46th Test try. Sexton’s conversion from wide out put Ireland into an imperious 3-30 lead.
Wales chipped away at the deficit with Cuthbert slicing through in the 49th minute after Biggar’s pass put him clear. Halfpenny’s conversion brought the score to 10-30.
Wales were now forced to go for broke with replacement flanker Justin Tipuric adding some much need zip to the attack. Best, who was having a stormer in defence, received a yellow card for coming in at the side of a ruck.
While he was in the sin bin Wales clicked through the gears to put Halfpenny over in the corner despite Heaslip and Zebo’s best efforts in defence. Slowly but surely Wales were inching their way back into the game.
Toby Faletau looked odds on to score as he surged towards the padding of the posts but he was dragged down just millimetres short. The pressure told however when Murray became the second Irish player to see a yellow card.
Wales threw the kitchen sink at Ireland and camped inside the Irish 22m line. Eventually replacement prop Craig Mitchell pounced to score from close range and with Halfpenny’s conversion the defending champions had eaten into Ireland’s lead even further and reduced the arrears to eight points with three minutes remaining.
But Ireland successfully negotiated the dying minutes to keep Wales at bay to beat Wales for the first time in four attempts while Wales were left to rue a first half where they failed to hit their straps which left them with too much to do against a fired-up Irish side.
