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Wing Shane Williams scored the only try of the match after 50 minutes to put him on top of the all time Wales try scoring list with 40 touchdowns alongside Gareth Thomas.
Wales’s fourth successive RBS Six Nations win means that next weekend in Cardiff will be a very special occasion. Marc Lièvremont’s France side stand in the way of the Grand Slam, but on current form, the home side will be favourites to repeat the feat of 2005.
This season’s squad has many of the same side that made such an impact three years ago. Adam and Duncan Jones in the front row, Martyn Williams and Ryan Jones in the back row, and the likes of Tom Shanklin, Gavin Henson and try-scoring machine Williams.
And at fly half, the dependable Stephen Jones. Despite missing his first kick of the afternoon he weighed in with eight points, including a very difficult conversion of Williams’s try and use of the boot in open play pegged Ireland back time and time again.
The home side opened the scoring with a fourth minute O’Gara penalty and may have lead 6-3 at the half time break, but it was Wales who had most of the go-forward in the first forty minutes.
Marshalled by the ever dependable Nugget and talismanic skipper Jones, Wales weathered early Irish offensives and slowly but surely began to take a stranglehold on the match.
Both in possession and territory they were dominant but were unable to breach the home line until 10 minutes into the second period. Inevitably, it was Williams who was the try scorer. He fended off two Irish defenders to score in the right hand corner.
That score was telling. Wales had the breakthrough and despite conceding two penalties while Martyn Williams was in the bin for a professional foul, their control of the match remained unfaltering and replacement Hook confirmed the win with a 75th minute penalty.
Scorers:
Ireland: Pens: O’Gara (4)
Wales: Tries: S Williams; Con: S Jones; Pens: S Jones (2), Hook
Ireland: R Kearney (Leinster); S Horgan (Leinster), B O’Driscoll (Leinster, Capt), A Trimble (Ulster), T Bowe (Ulster); R O’Gara (Munster), E Reddan (Wasps); M Horan (Munster), R Best (Ulster), J Hayes (Munster), D O’Callaghan (Munster), P O’Connell (Munster), D Leamy (Munster), D Wallace (Munster), J Heaslip (Leinster)
Replacements: B Jackman (Leinster), T Buckley (Munster), M O’Driscoll (Munster), S Easterby (Scarlets), P Stringer (Munster), P Wallace (Ulster), L Fitzgerald (Leinster)
Wales: L Byrne (Ospreys); M Jones (Scarlets), T Shanklin (Blues), G Henson (Ospreys), S Williams (Ospreys); S Jones (Scarlets), M Phillips (Ospreys); G Jenkins (Blues), M Rees (Scarlets), A Jones (Ospreys), I Gough (Ospreys), AW Jones (Ospreys), J Thomas (Ospreys), M Williams (Blues), R Jones (Ospreys, Capt)
Replacements: G Williams (Blues), D Jones (Ospreys), I Evans (Ospreys), G Delve (Gloucester), D Peel (Scarlets), J Hook (Ospreys), S Parker (Ospreys)
Referee: Wayne Barnes (England)
