By Dai
August 24 2003

Wales crashed to their 10th Successive defeat against Ireland in Dublin on Saturday as Ireland ran in 5 tries to beat us by 35 points to 12. For a report on the match and player analysis read on.

Wales crashed to their 10th successive defeat in Dublin on Saturday in the first of four World Cup warm up matches and many people will be wondering where do we go from here however, coach Steve Hansen doesn't seem to concerned by the defeat as "there were really positive things". and "it was a good way to start these matches".

Wales, who fielded a young and largely inexperienced side fell behind minutes after the kick off as the Irish moved the ball out wide allowing Paul O'Connell to touch down unopposed. David Humphries added the extras and it looked as though Wales may be in for a hammering. However, to their credit, Wales stuck to their task and after an excellent touchfinder from Ceri Sweeney of the Celtic Warriors, the Welsh forwards were able to steel the Irish lineout ball, spread it out wide and allow captain for the day Gareth Thomas  to cross in the corner. Unfortunately Iestyn Harris was unable to add the conversion but Wales were in the game, trailing only by 7 points to 5.

Wales managed to hold out Ireland with some good defensive work, highlighted by a number of crunching tackles from Ceri Sweeney on Brian O'Driscoll and Keith Wood but the Irish were always going to get over for the second try. After much pressure in the Wales 22, Alan Quinlan received the ball and managed to power is way over the line under the posts to make it 12 - 5. Humphries again added the conversion to give Ireland a 14 - 5 half time lead.

In the second half Wales had to start without Iestyn Harris who had earlier been sinbinned for a high tackle on Anthony Horgan and the extra man helped Ireland break the welsh defence for a third time to allow David Wallace to score a try.

Wales then launched some attacks of their own but an error in Irelands 22 by Wales allowed the Irish to break out of defence and after some neat running, Malcolm O'Kelly touched down for a fourth try to extend the Irish lead to 28 - 5.

Wales then began to put some good passing together and a clever kick from debutant Nicky Robinson allowed Garan Evans to collect the ball and score Wales' second try. Harris added the conversion to make it 28 - 12 but it was too little to late for Wales as Ireland continued to pile on the pressure and eventually score a fifth try through Paul O'Connell. Geordan Murphy added the conversion due to an injury to David Humphries to give Ireland a comfortable 35 - 12 win.

Overall, Wales put together some good moves but made to many basic errors which prevented them from scoring more tries. Steve Hansen experiemnted with his side and after seeing the result of the experimenting I would say that Nicky Robinson at full back didn't really work largely due to the fact that Wales didn't have enough ball to show what he can do and Garan Evans only had an average game which should mean that he will miss out on the World Cup squad.

Jamie Robinson didn't really offer to much in the outside centre position which will probably mean that Mark Taylor comes in for next weeks game against England although Iestyn Harris showed glimpses of his talent with a number of good breaks from the inside centre position.

Gareth Thomas did a reasonable job out on the wing and Ceri Sweeney made a few errors but also made breaks, kicked well and passed the ball out quickly in front of players to get some momentum as they moved forward which should secure him a place in the final 30.

In the forwards, the back row problem doesn't look to be solved as the top five ball carriers were all Irish and so it looks as though Martyn Williams and Colin Charvis will be brought back for next weeks game.

The front row seemed to struggle in the scrum although there may have been things going on in there which we weren't able to see. Gethin Jenkins and Iestyn Thomas will probably fill the prop positions next week and although Mefin Davies was fairly successful with finding his lineout jumpers, one of the selectors favourites, Robin McBryde will more than likely occupy the number 2 jersey.

In the second row there was some good work by Owen and Llewellyn although I feel Robert Sidoli will take over next week from Owen as he has more experience playing at lock than Owen does.

What do you think?

Who should play against England?

Let us know on the messageboard.

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Ireland: G Murphy; S Horgan, B O'Driscoll, K Maggs, A Horgan; D Humphreys, P Stringer; R Corrigan, K Wood (c), S Best, M O'Kelly, P O'Connell, A Quinlan, A Foley, K Gleeson.
Replacements used: J Fitzpatrick, S Byrne,  D Wallace, G Dempsey.

Wales: N Robinson; G Evans, J Robinson, I Harris, G Thomas(c); C Sweeney, D Peel; D Jones, M Davies, B Evans, M Owen, G Llewellyn, R Oakley, R Parks, A Popham.
Replacements used: H Bennett, G Jenkins, V Cooper.

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