O'Driscoll extinguishes Welsh fire as Irish run riot

Ireland 36 Wales 15

The arctic wind which chilled everyone to the bone here yesterday was nothing compared to the chill which went through Welsh rugby supporters as they saw the recent hype and hope of the last three Wales performances blown away by rampant Ireland.

Work places, pubs and clubs are scheduled to become smoke-free places in Ireland by government decree at the end of March, but yesterday Brian O'Driscoll's men rendered their own workplace, Lansdowne Road, a no-smoking zone for the Welsh Dragons whose fire was kept under strict control.

More than an hour had elapsed before the Welsh faithful saw even a warming flicker. At least then Wales proceeded to dominate the match up to the final whistle, but by then they had left themselves with far too much to do.

It was not that Wales did not try, rather they were not allowed to. Up front they were stifled and stuffed, in midfield they were suffocated and slashed to ribbons, and the upshot was that their own wide game did not materialise until the very end.

There was a bare minute on the clock when Ireland opened the scoring with the first of their six tries - matching the half-dozen they ran in during their 54-10 rout of Wales two years ago. From a line-out, Ireland flexed their impressive mauling muscle and, as the drive ground to a halt, so hooker Shane Byrne slipped off the back and crunched through for the first of his two tries.

Although the Wales fly-half, Stephen Jones, then registered a penalty, Wales were again left reeling when O'Driscoll marked his return from injury by latching on to Ronan O'Gara's pass to score the first of his two tries. O'Gara, who had converted Byrne's try, repeated the feat with this one.

Mercifully for Wales, there was a lull in the scoring, although their defence was repeatedly tested as O'Driscoll, O'Gara and the excellent Gordon D'Arcy behaved like a three-pronged fork, prodding, probing and occasionally stabbing the opposition lines and generally causing mayhem.

As Wales retreated into their own half under this concerted pressure, so the thinking became more ragged, and when centre Iestyn Harris had his attempted clearance kick charged down on the half-hour by O'Gara, the Ireland outside-half, who then won the race for the touchdown, it became apparent that Wales were in for a hiding.

Ireland continued to dominate, their driving at times awesome, their rolling maul looking invincible, a fact which was emphasised in the final minute of the first half when Byrne peeled off another unstoppable drive, went around Iestyn Thomas and brushed the scrum-half, Gareth Cooper, aside before scoring his third try for his country.

The first quarter of the second half saw little change in the ebbing tide of Welsh affairs. Ireland were in control and that equated to more gain for them, more pain for Wales. A stunning reverse pass from the scrum-half, Peter Stringer, in the 48th minute found the No 8, Anthony Foley, a couple of metres out and Wales slipped further into the abyss.

Just five minutes later, another line-out saw the ball moved out to the flanker Keith Gleeson, who had popped up in the centre. He collected the ball, stormed between Jones and Martyn Williams before feeding O'Driscoll. The Ireland captain then stepped up a gear, cruised outside Gareth Thomas and, ignoring the attentions of Rhys Williams, scored his 23rd try for Ireland.

That was the point at which the Dragons finally stirred, but not enough to shake Ireland. Tom Shanklin, who had replaced Sonny Parker after the outside centre injured a shoulder, scored two well-worked, late tries but there was far too much ground to make up. At least Wales showed there were still some embers of hope glowing, but they will have to work their bellows like fury if they are to catch fire again against France.

Ireland 36
Tries: Byrne 2, O'Driscoll 2, O'Gara, Foley
Cons: O'Gara 3

Wales 15
Tries: Shanklin 2
Con: S Jones
Pen: S Jones

Half-time: 24-3 Att: 49,000

IRELAND: G Dempsey (Leinster); S Horgan (Leinster), G D'Arcy (Leinster), B O'Driscoll (Leinster, capt), T Howe (Ulster); R O'Gara (Munster), P Stringer (Munster); R Corrigan (Leinster), S Byrne (Leinster), J Hayes (Munster), D O'Callaghan (Munster), P O'Connell (Munster), S Easterby (Llanelli Scarlets), K Gleeson (Leinster), A Foley (Munster). Replacements: K Maggs (Bath) for D'Arcy, 57; D Humphreys (Ulster) for O'Driscoll, 77; G Easterby (Rotherham) for Stringer, 77; V Costello (Leinster) for Corrigan, 80; F Sheahan (Munster) for Byrne, 64; M O'Kelly (Leinster) for O'Callaghan, 36; S Best (Ulster) for Foley, 80.

WALES: G Thomas (Celtic Warriors); R Williams (Cardiff Blues), S Parker (Celtic Warriors), I Harris (Cardiff Blues), S Williams (Neath-Swansea Ospreys); S Jones (Llanelli Scarlets), G Cooper (Celtic Warriors); I Thomas (Llanelli Scarlets), R McBryde (Llanelli Scarlets), A Jones (Neath-Swansea Ospreys), B Cockbain (Celtic Warriors), R Sidoli (Celtic Warriors), J Thomas (Neath-Swansea Ospreys), M Williams (Cardiff Blues, capt), D Jones (Llanelli Scarlets). Replacements: T Shanklin (Cardiff Blues) for Parker, 56; C Sweeney (Celtic Warriors) for Harris, 68; D Peel (Llanelli Scarlets) for Cooper, 78; G Jenkins (Celtic Warriors) for A Jones, 32; M Owen (Newport-Gwent Dragons) for Sidoli, 54; A Popham (Leeds) for J Thomas, 68.

Referee: J Jutge (France).