Ireland keep triple crown hopes alive

IRELAND 27 WALES 12, Croke Park
Scorers:
Ireland: Tries: Keith Earls 2, Tomas O’Leary; Pens: Jonathan Sexton 3; Drop: Jonathan Sexton
Wales: Pens: Stephen Jones 4

Ireland’s Triple Crown hopes remained alive thanks to a comfortable 15-point win over Wales at a packed Croke Park this afternoon.

81,340 supporters witnessed a game which saw Ireland land three impressive tries – all three executed and delivered by Munster players.

Keith Earls showed brilliance in the 27th and 60th minutes, after he showed great energy and drive to twice crash over in the left corner.

His fellow Munster winger Tomas O’Leary also got in on the try-scoring act, as his 32nd minute effort saw Ireland claim a 16-6 interval lead.

There were however some concerns – an off-day on kicking duties for Jonathan Sexton with the Leinster out-half just landing four scores from eight attempts.

Unfortunately none of Sexton’s conversions went between the posts, but he made amends late on with a spectacular 76th minute drop-goal to see the home support go into raptures.

Wales started brightly in this match to claim the lead with a little under 10 minutes gone on the clock with Stephen Jones slotting over a penalty.

Jones left sided kick inside the 22 pushed the visitors 3-0 in front.

However Jones failed to landed his second penalty kick four minutes later.

Sexton made amends for his earlier miss in the 18th minute to tie the game at 3-all

Ireland continued to press with Sexton off loading the ball to Tommy Bowe who made a line break for another penalty – two out of three ain’t bad for the Leinster out-half.

Declan Kidney’s charges upped their intensity, and with Wales down to 14 following the dismissal of full-back Lee Byrne the visitors suddenly struggled.

It was a tough of brilliance by Earls as he claimed Ireland’s opening try in the 27th minute, following a pass from Brian O’Driscoll on his 100th cap.

Sexton missed the resulting conversion, but Irish hearts were sent crashing once more when RBS Man of the Match Tomas O Leary bounded over for a 32nd minute try.

O’Leary finished over the line, after Paul O’Connell broke off the base of the maul to off-load to the Munster winger to push Ireland 16-3 clear.

Stephen Jones kept Wales in touch with a 38th minute penalty, but Ireland kept their noses in front and a 60th minute try from Earls following a great line-break by O’Leary set Ireland up for victory.

IRELAND: Geordan Murphy; Tommy Bowe, Brian O’Driscoll (capt), Gordon D’Arcy, Keith Earls; Jonathan Sexton, Tomas O’Leary; Cian Healy, Rory Best, John Hayes, Donncha O’Callaghan, Paul O’Connell, Stephen Ferris, David Wallace, Jamie Heaslip.

Replacements used: Rob Kearney for D’Arcy (23 mins, inj), Tony Buckley for Hayes (75), Ronan O’Gara for Earls (78), Shane Jennings for Ferris, Leo Cullen for O’Connell, Eoin Reddan for O’Leary, Sean Cronin for Best (all 79).

WALES: Lee Byrne; Leigh Halfpenny, James Hook, Jamie Roberts, Shane Williams; Stephen Jones, Richie Rees; Paul James, Matthew Rees, Adam Jones, Bradley Davies, Luke Charteris, Jonathan Thomas, Martyn Williams (capt), Gareth Delve.

Replacements used: Huw Bennett for M Rees (57 mins), Ian Gough for Davies (59, inj), Dwayne Peel for R Rees (62), Andrew Bishop for Byrne (64), Sam Warburton for M Williams (67), Rhys Gill for James (78). Not used: Tom Shanklin.

Referee: Craig Joubert (South Africa)