• Wales’s great surge comes just too late
How rank are the rankings? There was a moment here when Ireland were in position to replace Wales at the top of them one week after they had conceded 57 points at Twickenham and in a year when they had been well beaten at home by England and in Cardiff. They were 22-3 up, having been overwhelmingly dominant against a team made up of second- and third-choice players before, as if embarrassed by the prospect, they eased off to the point where they were hanging on for a victory.
It gave both head coaches something to salvage from an afternoon when the immediate future counted for appreciably more than the present. Ireland’s Joe Schmidt saw a response from Twickenham with his defence sharper, admittedly without the spectre of a Manu Tuilagi to contend with, and the set-pieces supreme. Ireland squeezed Wales for an hour, forcing mistakes and turning them into points, but even with Bundee Aki providing drive in midfield they struggled to create off their own ball.
Written by Paul Rees at the Principality Stadium
This news first appeared on https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/aug/31/wales-ireland-rugby-world-cup-warm-up-match-report under the title “Two-try Jacob Stockdale helps Ireland squeeze home against Wales”. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.
