Rugby Union: Wales foiled by green effect

Wales 25 Ireland 26 Tries: I Evans 1, 47 Tries: Bell 12, Miller 24 S Quinnell 77 Hickey 34 Pens: Jenkins 37, 65 Pens: Elwood 4, 42, 58 Con: Jenkins 1, 77 Con: Elwood 1

Wales came within a whisker of breaking their Irish hoodoo but, in truth, it was a long whisker and the bulk of the credit for a ruggedly thrilling game must go to Ireland, who at one time looked as if they were going to win with a great deal more comfort.

Before managing to wreck Wales's Triple Crown hopes and revive their own, Ireland had to survive one of the most disastrous starts in Five Nations history. Wales scored a try through the wing Ieuan Evans after only 31 seconds, which if not the most rapid scored in this tournament must be close to it.

But Ireland came back with a first-half display that made a mockery of the way in which they have been written off. By half-time they were winning 20-10, a margin that could have been far more severe for Wales had the Irish outside-half, Eric Elwood, not missed two conversions, a penalty and a drop-goal.

The Irish did increase their lead to 26-15 midway through the second half but then found themselves pushed back on their heels by a late Welsh resurgence that brought them to within one point when Scott Quinnell scored a try with a few minutes remaining. That was the only time the Welsh No 8 had looked like being the hero of the National Stadium. Many was the time that he charged with ball in hand at Ireland, only to disappear ineffectively in a sea of green.

Ireland had far more conspicuous heroes, not the least being their second row of Paddy Johns and Jeremy Davidson, who took so much from the Welsh line-out and made massive contributions in the loose.

But we had expected thunder from the Irish forwards. What would have taken the Welsh more by surprise was the performance of the Irish backs, particularly their centres, Maurice Field and Jonathan Bell, who tackled ferociously to cut down a swathe of Welsh attacks. Ireland's coach, Brian Ashton, praised his midfield defence, and in particular Field, by saying in a manner that shows he is adapting to the Irish way: "Maurice did better against Scott Gibbs than quite well." Wales badly missed Allan Bateman in the centre.

It is a tribute to the game that it managed to live up to its fantastic start. It was a Welsh kick-off and the bulk of their pack lined up on the right-hand side. Although Arwel Thomas shaped to kick the ball that way, he suddenly changed direction and belted it towards the left touchline, where the sparse Irish defence could do nothing as they were caught in a rush by Colin Charvis and Quinnell. The surge took Wales to within five yards of the line where a ruck produced the ball for Arwel Thomas to send across the backs via Gareth Thomas and Neil Jenkins to Evans, who sped over for his 32nd international try.

The Irish should have been as gobsmacked as the rest of the stadium but they responded with a vigour that forced a penalty out of Wales in front of their posts for Elwood to make it 7-3 after four minutes. One Wales attack brought a chip from Arwel Thomas that just eluded Evans but this was a brief pause in the Irish recovery. Johns stole a Welsh line-out on the Irish 25 and the resultant surge ended in a high kick from Elwood which drifted towards the Welsh posts. Jenkins and the ball hit the padding together and it dropped beautifully for Bell to fall over the line.

A missed attempt at a drop-goal by Arwel Thomas and a couple of misjudged chips ahead helped to annul most of the subsequent Welsh attacking in this half, and, after 25 minutes, runs by Niall Hogan and Elwood took Ireland just short of the line before Eric Miller powered over.

The Irish skipper Jim Staples had, with Elwood, troubled the Welsh with some accurate kicking but Staples did his best work by breaking from a scrum in his own half to set up David Corkery with a pass that the flanker gave to Dennis Hickie for the 20-year-old to score on his debut.

The second half brought another try for Evans after Arwel Thomas had broken down the left in the sort of move that had been expected of him. Jenkins scored a penalty to keep Wales within touch and, after Craig Quinnell came on as substitute, a double dose of Quinnell down the left brought Scott his first glimpse of the line and he burrowed over for a try that Jenkins converted to bring Wales to within one point.

There was a brief flurry of a chance for Evans to score his third try just before the end but it came to nothing. There were Welsh complaints about Australian referee Wayne Erickson's laxity at the ruck where Wales got turned over seven times, but there was no denying Ireland deserved the continuation of their 14 years of invincibility in Cardiff.

Wales: N Jenkins (Pontypridd); I Evans (Llanelli), G Thomas (Bridgend), S Gibbs (Swansea), D James (Bridgend); A Thomas (Swansea), R Howley (Cardiff); C Loader (Swansea), J Humphreys (Cardiff, capt), D Young (Cardiff), G Llewellyn (Harlequins), M Rowley (Pontypridd), S Williams (Neath), S Quinnell (Richmond), C Charvis (Swansea). Replacements: C Quinnell (Richmond) for Rowley, 66; K Jones (Ebbw Vale) for Charvis, 68.

Ireland: J Staples (Harlequins, capt); D Hickie (St Mary's College), J Bell (Northampton), M Field (Malone), D Crotty (Garryowen); E Elwood (Lansdowne), N Hogan (Terenure); N Popplewell (Newcastle), R Nesdale (Newcastle), P Wallace (Saracens), P Johns (Saracens), J Davidson (London Irish), D Corkery (Bristol), E Miller (Leicester), D McBride (Malone). Replacement: G Fulcher (London Irish) for Johns, 73.

Referee: W Erickson (Aus).