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Ireland edged a resurgent Wales in a pulsating 27-18 thriller in the most recent round of The Guinness Six Nations Championship, earning a coveted 14th Triple Crown for the boys in green and keeping alive Ireland's hopes of a fifth Grand Slam. Now only France and Italy stand in the way of Ireland's third Six Nations title in as many years but Simon Easterby's men will be under no illusions about the scale of the task at hand.
Ambush at the Principality
Ireland survived a scare on the road in Cardiff in Gameweek three when a re-energized Welsh side came out all-guns blazing. Debutant Ellis Mee stole the show for the Welsh with an outstanding first game in red. Gareth Anscombe anchored his side with some much needed stability at fly half and Jac Morgan proved why, in the views of many analysts, he should be on the plane to Australia for this Summer’s Lions tour.
Ireland got off to an ideal start when Jack Conan, a standout performer in the first two tests, bullied his way home from close range to make the score 5-0. Sam Prendergast made no mistake with the extras and added to Ireland's lead with a kick from 27 metres when Ireland was gifted a scrum penalty just before the 20 minute mark. Cameras panned to the crowd where trepidation was etched on the faces of the Welsh faithful.
However, momentum seemed to shift after Wales hit back with a penalty from Gareth Anscombe, who had been restored to the Welsh squad in a shrewd move by new manager Matt Sherratt. There came a prolonged period of sustained pressure with Wales pounding the Irish defence. When a gap finally appeared, Jac Morgan burst through, offloading the ball to scrumhalf Tomos Williams who, thankfully from an Irish perspective, dropped the ball metres from the line.
Things went from bad to worse for Ireland when Garry Ringrose’s high challenge on Ben Thomas was deemed to be within the yellow card threshold and Ireland’s star outside centre headed to the sin bin, with a bunker review to come as to whether the card should be updated to a red. Anscombe slotted the kick and suddenly Ireland had a real fight on their hands.
Wales could sense blood in the water and relentlessly attacked from the restart, eventually winning a penalty and a five metre lineout. From the line out crash ball after crash ball carry was made until finally Jac Morgan broke the seal and over he went for Wales first try of the game. Anscombe added the extras and Ireland headed into the halftime break 13-10 down.
At halftime, Ringrose’s yellow card was upgraded to the newly formatted 20 minute red card and Ireland would be without a centre for the beginning of the second half. It seemed that the rugby gods had turned against Ireland. Spurred on by this, Wales pummelled the Irish defence and, after more sustained pressure, Welsh winger Tom Rogers scored a spectacular try in the corner to extend the Welsh lead to 8.
The Welsh success seemed to awaken Ireland. Digging deep, Ireland began to make inroads into the Wales defence and, all of a sudden, the Welsh spell began to wear off. Ireland won a penalty for a breakdown infringement in the Welsh half and Sam Prendergast stuck it between the posts to bring it to a one score game. A clever well executed dink over the top from scrumhalf Jamison Gibson Park resulted in an incredible acrobatic effort from James Lowe batting the ball down to Jamie Osborne who dotted down for his first ever Six Nations try.
With the game now 18 points a-piece, Prendergast nudged Ireland in front with 15 minutes left on the clock. He was not done yet however and when Bundee Aki won a brave penalty at the breakdown from 48 metres out, Prendergast stepped up and the ball sailed between the posts.
There was one last sting in the tail from Wales and only for a vital intervention from the TMO Ellis Mee would have scored another Welsh try to earn the gallant Welsh team what would have been a deserved losing bonus point. It was not to be and, before the game was out, Prendergast scored another penalty to seal the Welsh team’s fate. Ireland won by a 9 point margin and the Triple Crown was Ireland’s once again.
Le Crunch
Looking ahead to this weekend, Ireland have a monumental challenge on their hands with a rip-roaring France chomping at the bit to get one over on their new rivals. With players evenly matched all over the park, it will certainly be one to tune in for. To keep their chances of winning the tournament alive, France must beat Ireland. It is “do or die”. This promises to be a game for the ages. France avenged their loss to England earlier in the tournament with a ruthless 11 try victory scoring 73 points against a stunned Italian side.
Here are some of the key talking points for the game of the tournament.
Scrum-half showdown
Widely hailed as the best rugby player in the world, Antoine DuPont will need to be at his best if France are going to defeat Ireland. The 28-year-old Frenchman has an incredible resumé winning Six Nations player of the championship three times as well as winning World Rugby Player of the Year in 2021. If that was not enough he took a career break last summer to win Olympic gold for the French sevens team at the Paris Olympic Games also picking up World sevens player of the year. If ever there was a match for DuPont however, it would be his counterpart in green Jamison Gibson-Park, who is in contention for player of the year at this year’s tournament. Gibson-Park picked up the Man of the Match award for Ireland in two out of the three games so far, and could have won it in the third game too. These stars are profoundly influential on how their sides play and this will certainly be a battle to keep an eye out for.
Front row fireworks
Two of the World’s greatest hookers will go head to head on Saturday as Dan Sheehan scrums down against Peato Mauvaka. Nominee for World Rugby breakthrough player of the year in 2022, Dan Sheehan is widely considered the best hooker in world rugby. Despite suffering a torn ACL and being sidelined since Ireland's first Test against South Africa in July 2024, he remarkably made his return off the bench against England in the first round of this year's tournament scoring a try. In the absence of Caelan Doris due to injury, Sheehan captained Ireland in Gameweek three against Wales. Sheehan’s 71st-minute try against England made him the joint-highest scoring forward in Six Nations history aged only 26. The man he is up against, Mauvaka, is an impressive figure of his own and widely hailed for his athleticism given his position. Mauvaka impressively managed to keep French legend Julien Marchand on the bench, proving his worth.
A fond farewell
In the build-up to this game, three Irish legends have announced they will be stepping away from the big stage with Cian Healy and Peter O’Mahoney announcing their retirement from rugby and Conor Murray announcing his retirement from the international stage. With an incredible 369 caps between them, their wealth of experience will be sorely missed in the Irish set up and they have etched an indelible legacy. Cian Healy retires as the most capped Irish and Leinster player of all time. This Saturday will be their final ever home game for Ireland.
Match details
This is sure to be the game of the tournament and there’s no doubt about it - after this we will know a lot more about how this tournament will finish up. In many senses it’s as close as the Six Nations can get to a final.
Date: Saturday 8th of March
Kick off: 2.15pm
Venue: Aviva Stadium