Aki leads the way as Ireland’s bench turns tide again

In Ireland’s sole loss to Wales in their past nine meetings, the visitors to Cardiff were undone by Peter O’Mahony’s first-half red card.

Simon Easterby’s side were relieved that history did not repeat itself as they won the Six Nations Triple Crown and maintained their unrecord-breaking third straight title.

The introduction of the 20-minute red card law for the first time in this year’s championship, which reduced Ireland’s punishment by almost half an hour, helped them reduce their numbers in the first half.

Ireland lost to a revitalized Welsh side 18-10 in Ringrose’s absence, and Connacht’s center Aki’s influence was undeniable as the tournament favorites scored 17 unanswered points to win 27-18.

Aki had been in charge of the game with the shovel if Easterby had acknowledged that his side had “dug themselves out of a bit of a hole” in order to win.

“Bundee coming on made a huge impact”, reflected Ireland’s interim head coach.

“He was brilliant both ball-to-ball and.”

Detractors of the 20-minute red card will have noted how Ireland appeared to have been lifted by both their restoration to 15 players and how decisively their replacement center had a negative effect on the game afterward.

After Easterby drew any doubts about how the new law had altered the game’s course, he was able to avoid a few awkward questions, and he later brushed aside any hypotheses about how it had helped him and himself.

Ireland arrived in Cardiff with the intention of winning only their 14th Triple Crown of their history, while the bigger picture is a fifth Grand Slam.

In what would have been a huge shock prior to kick-off, Wales could have derailed Ireland’s bid for both. Even though losing to Ireland would have sparked some unfavorable emotions in the course of this game, the story of this game might well turn out to be the restoration of Wales’ faith in the midst of a 15-game losing streak.

Only two of Easterby’s changes were imposed as a result of an injury, compared to the win over Scotland.

One player made his Test debut, another made his debut, and three more than three players who had never played in the Six Nations were included in his initial squad selection.

Given all that was in play, the wisdom of such a rotation appeared questionable given how frequently their scrum was pinged for repeated infractions and Wales’ tails lifted through a second quarter with some lovely attacking play.

However, by turning things around, Ireland maintains the best of both worlds, exposing their younger squad to the harsh end of Test rugby while continuing to deliver a historic run of results.

They have won 19 of their previous 21 games in the competition, compared to the 19 that they won between 1989 and 2002.

Ireland have a rookie fly-half who is only playing his second Test away from home in Cardiff, haven’t seen prop Tadhg Furlong because of injury, and have used 29 different players so far in the second fallow week of this campaign.

In addition, Saturday’s side was captained by hooker Dan Sheehan for the first time, with Caelan Doris, who is currently the team’s skipper, missing his first Test since 2021.

“We are trying to build those experiences for players, playing in the Millennium Stadium with the roof closed, the third game of a Six Nations where everything is likely against the team you’re playing against, and then we come out and get a result like that,” Easterby said.

We are attempting to maintain consistency in selection while also providing them with depth, knowledge, and experiences that they might not acquire while playing URC or European rugby.

Regardless of the rights or wrongs of Ringrose’s replacement, Ireland are reaping the rewards of building their depth.

After Easterby named a third different midfield pairing in three games, Aki made a superb turn off the bench.

In Furlong’s absence, prop Finlay Bealham has grown more dependable, whereas Ryan Baird was a different prop when he was called up, but he also had a significant impact as a replacement.

The bench, who was instrumental in Ireland’s round-one victory against England, has arguably never had greater depth.

“I guess a part of the squad, the rotation, and how you build a squad is that you have guys who understand that the guys who start have a job as much as the guys who don’t,” Easterby said.

In a match that has become a major fixture of the championship over the past few years, Ireland will face France in Dublin on March 8.

The Six Nations champions have won their final three meetings in Dublin, where they last met, with their final appearance going down as a classic.