Malcolm O’Kelly felt that Ireland learned a harsh lesson in defeat to a Wales side who he believes will take some stopping in the rest of the World Cup.
The anticipation and buzz around the country for this game was incredible. Everyone was behind the team and excited by how far we would go and such was the excitement was that it was boiling over into a matter of who we would meet in the final.
And, it would be a harsh lesson to us all this morning as we watched our World Cup dream slip away. All the screaming and begging, the groaning and berating changed nothing; it was not to be our day.
It felt gutting and almost cruel watching the momentum shift away from Ireland as the game steamed along. By the end of the game, the boys were battered by their efforts and incapable of breaking a seemingly impenetrable Welsh defence.
The omens were there from the start when Wales jumped out of the blocks with an early score and at the heart of the effort was Jamie Roberts. Wales’s marauding centre re-gathered an up and under deep in Ireland’s territory and then made the key drive in their play, physically dominating the gain line.
A terrible defensive system error – not defending your blindside – is a hanging offence and Ireland’s executioner would be Mike Phillips, which was doubly cruel as it was he who broke our hearts in the Six Nations in the spring.
Ireland were scrambling in defence and sucked in by the Welsh runners and as a result, they afforded enough space to Shane Williams to sneak in in the corner. It was not the wakeup call anyone wanted.
Ireland responded strongly and would dominate proceedings for the rest of the half, but failed to convert that dominance onto the scoreboard.
The first half was played at a frenetic pace and rarely stopped for breath as both teams looked dangerous in attack. Ireland came close time and time again. Key players seemed to be making big plays and turnovers for us. O’Driscoll made an interception, Cian Healy turned the ball over on the ground, Tommy Bowe re-gathered an up and under and there were passages of error-free continuity.
Wales, however, defended stoutly. Their work rate and commitment was unquestionable and it wasn’t until 25 minutes that I can remember an offload out of the tackle.
Shaun Edwards will possibly be the most content man in Wellington tonight. This heroic defending really forced Ireland’s hand as they struggled to get decent go-forward ball, but they battled hard and inevitably, the breaks did come but it was their handling close to the line that let them down and they were perhaps guilty of over-expansive play close to the Welsh line.
Time and time again Ireland seemed destined to score but ended up with nothing. Eventually, Ireland got a richly deserved penalty which was cancelled out directly by a Halfpenny boot from near halfway. We can thank our lucky stars he wasn’t on the pitch in Cardiff in 2009!
The start of the second half exploded like the first but in reverse, with Ireland lifting the tempo. Wales wanted nothing to do with attacking rugby and were quite happy to bang the ball down the pitch.
Jamie Roberts proved to be a thorn in the Irish side time and time again
A series of kicking interchanges eventually resulted in a Tommy Bowe re-gather in Welsh territory and a concerted effort got Ireland within touching distance of the line. Yet again, it seemed the movement had broken down but a great pickup and quick hands back across the blindside gave Keith Earls a glimmer and he dived early and snuck in under Mike Phillips.
Ten all and back in the game with a half an hour to go. Would this be the score needed to lift the boys and overcome Wales? With anticipation, I looked on hopefully along with the rest of the country, but noticeably, the team was starting to tire.
The great effort of the previous 50 minutes was creeping in and instead of Ireland taking it on, it was Wales who responded. Again, Jamie Roberts was prominent and his physicality forced Ireland backwards and deep into their own territory.
This was compounded by having lifted a siege with a great turnover to steal the following lineout, which would result in the crushing blow of the Phillips try. A terrible defensive system error – not defending your blindside – is a hanging offence and Ireland’s executioner would be Mike Phillips, which was doubly cruel as it was he who broke our hearts in the Six Nations in the spring.
It was an error caused out of poor communication due to exhaustion. D’Arcy was isolated and out of position and was helpless to stop Phillips; you just felt Wales would never have given away anything as cheap as that.
That score took Wales five points clear. Ireland fought hard again to reply, but they were struggling to find the necessary intensity and errors kept haunting their best intentions. In every facet we seemed to be losing the hard fought battle. The scrum creaked and coughed up a penalty, which Priestland struck off the woodwork.
It felt gutting and almost cruel watching the momentum shift away from Ireland as the game steamed along.
With 15 minutes to go, the dream died and ironically, it would be our patented choke tackle that would be our undoing. In attempting to turn over a Welsh play, Ireland committed big numbers into a choke tackle on Jamie Roberts. Unfortunately, the gamble didn’t pay off, the ball was recycled and we were terribly exposed with Wales having numbers down the blindside.
Jonathan Davies fancied the mismatch with Cian Healy, the despairing cover were incapable of stopping him and Wales went 12 points clear.
For the next 15 minutes, we were praying for the type of comeback we saw from Leinster last May and have seen from Munster time and time again. It is by their own mighty standards that we dare to dream.
Ireland tried to force it in the end but there was to be no comeback as Ireland ran out of ideas, out of chances and out of time. Wales weathered the storm and came out on the right side of a titanic battle.
They took the chances offered to them, gave nothing easy to the opposition, played with composure and brought a massive work rate and are going to take a hell of a lot of stopping.
Good luck to them.
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