That game had a bit of everything. Drama, controversy and some excellent finishing which culminated in Wales grabbing a two-point win over Ireland to round off an entertaining start to the 2012 6 nations.
Both sides showed a willingness to run the ball for the majority – wonderful viewing for the neutral. For Wales, Jamie Roberts and Jonathan Davies were outstanding in the middle and George North joined them on the wing in making it over the gainline more often than not.
Both number tens had off days when kicking from the tee but whereas Wales were able to fall back on Leigh Halfpenny, Ireland’s only choice would have been to sub Jonny Sexton and bring on Ronan O’Gara. I wondered at half-time whether Wales might rue the early misses by Rhys Priestland but in the end, Sexton’s misses proved more costly for his team.
Neither side will be overly happy with the way they defended – as good as the attacking play was. Too many missed tackles and poor organisation.
Bradley Davies should have been sent off. There could have been no argument had he gone and it was a poor decision from the officials. Stephen Ferris’ dismissal late on was largely irrelevant as yellow or red, he wasn’t coming back onto the field although merely a penalty for the dangerous tackle would probably have been enough.
Wales had one chance to score when they were down to 14 men and they took it. That is a huge positive they can take from the game and it will have alerted the likes of France as to what they are capable of.
With Wales having now taken an important away win, mark them down as contenders to push France close for the title.