Wales leave Irish green with envy

Mar 10 2008 Delme Parfitt, South Wales Echo

Ireland 12-16 Wales

IF you weren’t quite convinced about the Wales revival under Warren Gatland, you have to believe in it now.

This was meant to be the step too far, the hurdle that finally tripped up Gatland’s boys in their race to emulate the 2005 Grand Slam.

But they ended up clearing it with more to spare than the scoreline suggests, with a performance that said everything about what a different proposition this team has become.

There was all manner of talk about heads having to rule hearts in the run-up to events at Croke Park, about how Wales could win it, but how Ireland should.

Such sentiments looked foolish at around 3pm on Saturday afternoon.

Wales produced a performance and a result on a par with anything they managed in 2005. Yes, even the magnificent win against France in Paris.

The game turned on a string of key, isolated moments, but the most heartening element of the Welsh success was the ruthless cold efficiency of it.

Three years ago, Wales caught the rest of the Six Nations teams with their pants down, storming to a clean sweep with a brand of all out attacking rugby that was always going to be unsustainable.

Gatland’s team has an altogether more calculated approach, with long-term foundations in place such as a mean defence, solidity at set-piece – the lineout improved manifestly at Croke Park – and of course, an infectious self-belief.

It’s fashionable to trot out the “let’s not carried away” line at the moment, but you have to think that if this coaching team can be kept together Wales have the chance to boss this tournament for the next five years or so.

Let’s not forget that the majority of this side still have their best years in front of them.

And if Wales hasn’t learned the lessons from imploding every time they have achieved anything in the modern era by now, then something really is amiss.

So many times on Saturday you thought the game was about to slip from Wales’ grasp, but every time they upped the ante to prove the doubters wrong.

When Ireland took charge in the opening 20 minutes you feared the worst.

When Stephen Jones fluffed a simple penalty from in front of the posts in the 11th minute, you feared the worst.

When Mike Phillips suffered a rush of blood to be deservedly sin-binned for kneeing Marcus Horan on the stroke of half-time, you feared the worst.

When Martyn Williams followed him off for a sneaky trip on Eoin Reddan just after the hour mark, yes, you’ve guessed it...

But each time Wales weathered the storm.

At half-time, with Gatland’s men trailing 6-3 and Phillips temporarily banished, there was very much a sense among the Welsh press contingent that Wales had cooked their goose already.

Surely Ireland wouldn’t let them wriggle out of it, surely it was just a matter of time.

Except that Ireland didn’t have much of a say when it came down to it because Wales came out in the second half and got through the eight minutes or so without Phillips by playing some watertight possession rugby.

Gatland even had the confidence to tell Shane Williams to perform emergency number nine duties instead of introducing Dwayne Peel.

At that stage Wales were clearly under instructions to starve Ireland at all costs with low-risk recycling stuff, but the way they executed the plan was jolting and so unlike the Wales of recent times.

At the forefront was the captain Ryan Jones.

The Ospreys man hadn’t found his best form in the opening three games, but in the Croke Park cauldron when it mattered most, he was imperious.

Going into the game it was his opposite number Jamie Heaslip who was setting tongues wagging. Jones eclipsed him with something to spare, keeping Wales on the front foot time and again – and the home crowd quiet for longer spells than Dublin’s foremost citadel is used to.

I found the argument for him to skipper the Lions in South Africa next year distinctly unconvincing when it was mooted a couple of weeks ago. On Saturday it looked a far more realistic option.

But there were monumental displays all around Jones too. Alun Wyn Jones and Ian Gough pushed themselves forward as the premium second row pairing of the competition by making the renowned Irish pair of O’Connell and O’Callaghan look decidedly ordinary.

Jonathan Thomas was a Trojan on the blindside, battering into contact all afternoon, while as a trio, Gethin Jenkins, Matthew Rees and Adam Jones simply routed the Irish front row in all facets of play.

And then there were the glory boys behind.

Someone said afterwards that Gavin Henson hadn’t played as well in a Wales jersey since the Grand Slam season.

I disagreed. Henson’s performance on Saturday was comfortably better than anything he delivered in 2005. He didn’t need a last minute penalty kick from range to secure hero status this time, it was his all round contribution that earned him the plaudits.

Henson has a reputation as a fancy Dan, but against physical Ireland his willingness to slug it out in midfield coupled with his usual flashes of class and siege gun boot acted as a reminder of just how prodigious a talent this fellow is. And his hit late in the game on the biggest Irish back on the field, Shane Horgan, almost knocked the Leinster wing into the middle of next week.

The other stand out backs for me were Mike Phillips and Shane Williams.

Phillips was all set for the type of infamy David Beckham endured after being sent off against Argentina in the 1998 World Cup when he was yellowed. But he probably saved himself a rollicking from Gatland with the quality of his play over the course of the 70 minutes he was involved.

Williams? The truth is we’re fast running out of superlatives. The little man has forged a career on being a bundle of fast-paced tricks, of using his small stature to his advantage. But the sheer fizz and verve he has in his feet right now puts you in mind of Jason Robinson at the peak of his powers.

The bottom line is that Williams causes panic in opposition defences whenever he has the ball.

He got to the Irish line in the 51st minute courtesy of a hand-off – and that won’t have happened too often in his Test career.

Yet it wasn’t really the hand-off that put him in, it was the after-burners in his boots that switched on when he received the ball. That type of speed over the first couple of yards puts defenders off balance and means players of Williams’ ilk have those few millimetres extra to weave through gaps.

For all the top quality of so many individual performances on Saturday though, we can expect the fly-half debate to continue this week in the build up to the Grand Slam decider against France on Saturday.

Because having finally won the jersey back off James Hook, Stephen Jones turned in an unconvincing sort of display.

Couple that with Hook’s outstanding penalty five minutes from the end and some eager running from the Ospreys man in the short time he was on the field, and you’ve got a real dilemma in the offing for Gatland.

Yet it’s hardly anything to lose sleep over under these circumstances.

Wales stand on the brink of a Grand Slam that looked fanciful just six weeks ago, when they were still trying to exorcise the demons of an ignominious World Cup exit.

Gatland played it all down in the aftermath at Croke Park, his demeanour suggesting he had presided over something far more routine.

But that did nothing to effect sales of Guinness in Temple Bar on Saturday night.

Nor should it have done. This was truly a victory worth celebrating. Better still, there is every reason to believe that Wales are putting down roots that should serve them well beyond March 15, 2008. Way beyond.

Page 2 - How the Wales team rated