Ireland had to go back to 1948 the last time they had claimed the holy grail and having battled to a 17-15 lead with the seconds ticking down, Declan Kidney’s side looked to have thrown it all away when replacement Paddy Wallace was penalised on the halfway line at a ruck.
Jones, who produced a superb all round display at fly-half, saw his long distance shot fall short as the Irish players carved their name into sporting folklore.
With the narrow defeat last season’s Grand Slam champions had slumped to fourth in this year’s final reckoning after the final round saw England and France both win to finish ahead of Warren Gatland’s men.
With so much riding on the outcome, tension was bound to be high. The match was only a minute old before the two teams squared up to each other after Wales captain Ryan Jones tripped over O’Gara. The Irish fly-half missed the resultant shot at goal as nerves were obviously frayed.
In a frantic opening it was end to end stuff with Wales attacking O’Gara’s channel with Jones, Tom Shanklin and Gavin Henson all arrowing in his direction.
Ireland thought they had opened the scoring in the 15th minute but O’Driscoll’s pass to Luke Fitzgerald was ruled forward.
Both teams threw everything at each other but neither side was prepared to budge an inch. Matthew Rees made a couple of charges for Wales while Ireland backrower David Wallace was his usual busy self in the loose.
In the 30th minute Wales suffered a huge blow with Lee Byrne forced off after a heavy tackle from Fitzgerald. Jamie Roberts came on as his replacement. Two minutes later Wales finally got their tilt at the championship on track with an easy Stephen Jones penalty after Ireland were penalised for going in over the top.
Jamie Heaslip got over the gain line with a surge to the line but Wales’s Gethin Jenkins slowed the ball down when Gordon D’Arcy looked threatening.
Three minutes from halftime Jones banged over a long range penalty to double Wales’s lead as Irish hopes of a Grand Slam were looking an increasingly difficult prospect.
The Irish trudged off for the tunnel knowing they had everything to do to overturn the deficit and get dangermen O’Driscoll and D’Arcy into the game.
Ireland exploded out of the blocks after the break. First O’Driscoll burrowed his way over under the legs of Rees before O’Gara, who looked hesitant in the first half, suddenly looked composed and assured as Tommy Bowe was on the receiving end of an excellent cross field chip from the No10 as he sped in under the posts. With O’Gara adding two conversions, Ireland had shot to a 6-14 lead.
Stephen Jones chipped away at the lead with his third penalty of the game but one of Wales’s strengths in the championship – the lineout – was becoming a lottery as Paul O’Connell was making a complete nuisance of himself.
In the 56th minute Jones sent over his fourth penalty to reduce Ireland’s lead to just two points. In an attempt to fix the lineout blues, Wales brought on hooker Huw Bennett and lanky lock Luke Charteris in place of Rees and Gough respectively.
With 14mins to go Henson had a 57 metres shot at goal but it fell short as Wales desperately attempted to regain the lead.
With six minutes to go Wales took the lead through a Stephen Jones drop goal after Mike Phillips tore into the Irish defence from a lineout. His surge took Wales to within 5m and then Mark Jones carried the ball on before his name sake caused a huge roar with his drop. But the match took another turn when O’Gara hit back almost immediately for Ireland with a snap drop goal for Ireland to regain the lead 15-17.
Wales refused to throw in the towel and surged downfield to set up Jones’s big moment. However it was not to be but after six decades of trying, no-one can begrudge Brian O’Driscoll and his men their moment of glory.
Scorers: Wales: Pen – S Jones (4); Dg – S Jones
Ireland: Tries: O’Driscoll, Bowe; Cons – O’Gara (2). Dgl – O’Gara
