They Shall Not Pass

From a committed spectator’s perspective, yesterday’s Wales v. Ireland match was at times almost unbearable to watch. The Irish must have felt deep frustration as they battered away at the Welsh line for what seemed like an age. As a self-confessed biased Welsh supporter, there was unbelievable tension coupled with tremendous pride as the thin red line stood firm. This match will live long in my memory for the ferocity and commitment that the Welsh team as they defended their narrow lead. I don’t think I have ever seen anything quite like it. Well maybe there was that cup match in Cardiff when Pontypool held out the home team…..

Wales had started in bright and breezy fashion and quite quickly built up a useful lead through the boot of Halfpenny and Ireland looked anything but potential grand slammers. The loss of Samson Lee at what seemed to be the first scrum came as a bit of a body blow for Wales. The Irish team spent the lengthy delay while the unfortunate prop was stretchered off drawing breath and regrouping. Slowly but surely they eased their way back into the game and garnered a couple of penalties. More disruption was to come for Wales as Warburton was yellow carded and with the score at 12-6 it was crucial that they managed to keep their noses in front while they were short-handed. A well-taken drop goal by Biggar was just the tonic Wales needed and although the Irish responded with another penalty Wales had kept their 6 point lead with the score 15-9 at half time.

The second half seemed to consist of the Irish banging away in attack and Wales countering everything that they tried with stern defence. I was sitting behind the posts and had a brilliant view of the Welsh defensive work as they drove Irish horde back repeatedly. It just needed Ivor Emanuel to sing Men of Harlech and it could have been made into a film.

The Welsh forward effort was immense and, even though they had lost both of their first choice props to injury, their young replacements battled bravely under severe pressure in the scrums. The Welsh lineout performed brilliantly and often disrupted the Irish as well as stealing a few against the throw. Wales were ferocious at the breakdown with Warburton at his best. It was red blooded stuff indeed.

There were a few Welsh breakouts and they looked quite dangerous on the counter attack. From one such breakout Scott Williams, who had come on as a substitute for Jamie Roberts, sliced through the Irish defence to score a try. Unfortunately Halfpenny missed the conversion but Wales had a bit of breathing space at 20-9.

We all knew the Irish were far from done and sure enough back they came and were soon hammering away at the Welsh line again. Eventually even the Welsh defence had to crack although it needed the referee’s assistance to score the try. They were awarded a penalty try when a maul collapsed to bring the score to 20-16. I suppose Wales were fortunate not to have a yellow card for this but it didn’t seem like that at the time.

If there was something that summed the Welsh spirit it was the way that Warburton turned the ball over shortly afterwards to earn a penalty for Wales which Halfpenny duly converted. At 23-16, and with time running out, the Irish grand slam dream was surely over. A converted try could still give them a draw and make them strong favourites for the Six Nations title so they certainly did not let up. There a few more nervous moments but Wales just about managed to hold out for a hard earned victory.

The Welsh contingent gave a concerted sigh of relief whilst the Irish sighed in resignation. Yes the whole stadium sighed.

Make no mistake this was as hard a test match as you will ever see and there will be a lot of battered bodies turning up for training on Monday. Let’s hope that the injury list is not too long as there is a visit to Rome coming up next Saturday. Could we see a cameo role for Adam Jones I wonder?

Well done Wales you have done us proud.