Ireland deny spirited Wales to keep hopes alive

Men’s Six Nations

Ireland (12) 27

Tries: Stockdale, Crowley, Conan, Osborne Cons: Crowley 2 Pen: Crowley

Wales (10) 17

Ireland kept alive their slim hopes of reclaiming the Six Nations title with a bonus-point victory over spirited Wales in Dublin.

A fortnight on from dismantling England in ruthless fashion, Ireland were prevented from producing another statement performance by a hard-hitting Wales team who were chasing a first championship win since 2023.

Andy Farrell’s home side ultimately dug deep to pick up the five points they needed, with tries from Jacob Stockdale, Jack Crowley, Jack Conan and Jamie Osborne.

After the scores from Stockdale and Crowley, prop Rhys Carre breathed new life into the Welsh cause with an excellent solo try to leave just two points in it at the break.

Undeterred by Conan’s early second-half try, Wales hit back through James Botham and retained hope of completing a huge shock.

However, they were condemned to a 15th successive Six Nations loss when Osborne went over for Ireland’s bonus-point score.

The result leaves Ireland a point behind France, who would win the title with a game to spare with a bonus-point victory over Scotland at Murrayfield on Saturday (14:10 GMT).

Hoping to build on their momentous victory at Twickenham, Ireland got up and running quickly when in-form centre Stuart McCloskey teed up Ulster team-mate Stockdale for his first Test try since July 2021.

Stockdale’s score came after Wales kicked the ball dead and Ireland won the resultant scrum, suggesting a long night was in store for the visitors.

However, after a Jack Conan try was ruled out for Tom O’Toole’s knock-on, Wales grew in confidence with a couple of mood-lifting turnovers from captain Dewi Lake and Alex Mann as Edwards’ straightforward penalty put them on the board.

A sustained spell of pressure from the away side failed to yield their first try after Carre was held up on the line by Caelan Doris, James Ryan and McCloskey.

After a stout display of Irish defending, Wales landed some big hits on the hosts at the other end before Crowley darted through a gap for a well-taken try that he failed to convert.

But after riding an early wave of Irish pressure, Wales got the try their display warranted in spectacular fashion.

Taking a pass from scrum-half Tomos Williams, Carre feigned a pass to the left wing before switching direction to outfox Rob Baloucoune, breeze clear of Tadhg Furlong and score a superb solo try – his third score of the tournament.

When Conan crashed over and survived another TMO check early in the second half, Ireland threatened to pull away from Wales, but the visitors refused to wilt.

Following a scrappy, disjointed period, Nicky Smith won a scrum penalty off Furlong and gave Wales – who last won a Six Nations match in Dublin in 2012 – an attacking opportunity from which Botham’s converted try brought them back to within two points.

With 20 minutes remaining, the sense of nervousness among Ireland fans in the stadium was palpable until Osborne raced through at the end of a flowing attacking move to put daylight between the sides after an impressive break down the left from impressive replacement lock Joe McCarthy.

Wales’ misery was compounded by Williams being sent to the bin, and although Crowley missed a straightforward conversion, the fly-half made up for it with a late penalty that completed a hard-fought win for Ireland.

Having led Scotland for the most of the game two weeks ago, it was another night when Wales threatened to break their duck only to fall short.

Ireland: Osborne; Baloucoune, Ringrose, McCloskey, Stockdale; Crowley, Gibson-Park; O’Toole, Kelleher, Furlong, Ryan, Beirne, Conan, Timoney, Doris (capt).

Replacements: Stewart, Milne, Clarkson, McCarthy, Van der Flier, Doak, Farrell, Frawley.

Wales: Rees-Zammit; Mee, James, Hawkins, Adams; Edwards, T Williams; Carre, Lake (capt), Francis, D Jenkins, Carter, Mann, Botham, Wainwright.

Replacements: Elias, Smith, Griffin, Beard, Cracknell, Hardy, J Evans, Hennessey.

Referee: Karl Dickson (Eng)

Assistant referees: Nika Amashukeli (Geo) & Damian Schneider (Arg)