In the 65th minute Bradley Davies was sin-binned for a dangerous Spear on Donnacha Ryan off the ball and has been cited. I have sympathy for the referee here as he was unsighted and he asked the Assistant referee Dave Pearson for his recommendation and he was told yellow. There is no doubt that it was a straight red card offence and probably the most dangerous piece of play that I have witnessed since Brian O Driscoll’s incident with Tana Umanga on the Lions tour in New Zealand. Bradley Davies is unlikely to be allowed play again in this tournament and with the other locks that are injured in Wales at the moment Gatland is down to his reserves in this area.
10 minutes later Wayne Barnes penalized Stephen Ferris for a similar offence and it was this penalty that gave Leigh Halfpenny the chance to kick the winning three points, which he converted coolly. By the letter of the law Barnes was within his rights to blow for a penalty for the Ferris tackle but in my opinion if that’s a penalty then the law is an ass! Paddy O Brien who is in charge of World refereeing needs to get over here to Europe and short out this issue.
I feel the penalty was harsh but I admire the way that Wales trailing by a point and with only 3 minutes on the clock worked their way from deep inside their own 22 up to Irelands Red Zone. They showed great composure and no little skill and even if the Ferris tackle wasn’t a penalty they looked for all money like they would get in position for a drop goal or force a different penalty. I am surprised at how softly Ireland defended in this phase of play, as Wales had no option to kick yet we continually gave up ground. Certainly the defensive performance will give Less Kiss plenty to think about and review.
I think that in hindsight we underestimated this Welsh outfit once again. Even with their injury issues that still have great young talent like Warburton, Davies and the man who should have been the official Man of the Match Wales George North. The young wing yet again proved what a talent he is. He may still be a teenager but his 6ft-plus physique makes him difficult to stop, as he demonstrated when scoring Wales’ third try by driving through two defenders. He also showed great power to bosh Fergus McFadden (who is very powerful himself) before a wonderful offload set Jonathan Davies up for his second try.
Wales must sort out their lineout and they will probably and change to Leigh Halfpenny kicking for goal from the off after Rhys Priestland’s misses cost them seven points. They will start to get their big names back over the course of the competition but these players will now back themselves to come from behind. They have Scotland, Italy and France at home and they could win another Championship, which would surely seal Warren Gatland’s case for Lions Coach.
Ireland looked like they were trying to evolve their attacking strategy using our excellent back row in the wider channels from early in the match. However once we went over 4 phases we lost our shape. That will come with time. Wales have been playing the same way since Gatland took over and all their players are very comfortable with it. Ireland must be more purposeful with their kicking game. A few kicks here were too easy for the opposition to deal with and the chases weren’t up to their usual standards either.
I thought that Heaslip, O Brien, Best and Rob Kearney were the pick of the Irish players and I don’t see Kidney making many changes for what will be an incredibly tough match in Paris against France on Saturday night at 9pm. This team has the ability to go there and win. If they are too we need to get everything right in our strategy and execution.
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