Jacob’s steal is Slam dunk for the Irish
As A speculative, floating pass from Gareth Anscombe hung in the air, so did Ireland’s Grand slam dreams.
With the 80 minutes up and wales striving to complete an amazing comeback win — after Aaron shingler and steff evans’ converted tries had put them within three points — they had another overlap. Jacob stockdale, who had already scored in the first half after an amazing pass fizzed to him by Johnny sexton, had to gamble and go for the intercept. He said: ‘I knew they would have to go over the top and luckily he threw it over the top and I was in the spot to get it.’ Fortunately for all in green, stockdale plucked the pass from the sky, running away to score and seal a dramatic victory by 10 points. england’s shock Calcutta Cup defeat against scotland at Murrayfield later in the day means Ireland are a bonus-point win from securing the championship. everyone expected there to be a grand showdown at Twickenham on st Patrick’s Day — england and Ireland unbeaten and chasing a slam. But now if Ireland stick four tries past scotland in Dublin on saturday week and england fail to do so in Paris against France, there will be green ribbons on the trophy for the first time since 2015. And despite scotland riding the crest of their glorious wave, Ireland should do it with a game to spare — they do not lose in Dublin any more. In Joe schmidt’s reign as head coach, they have not lost at home in the six nations, drawing just once in four tournaments. Their victory this time was won by their powerful forwards, who bullied wales in a five-minute period before and a 20-minute period after halftime which brought tries from Bundee Aki, Dan Leavy and Cian Healy, before stockdale (right) clinched it. It should have been more comfortable, but sexton missed 10 points from the tee and wales did remarkable amounts despite a dearth of possession. Gareth Davies took their other score but warren Gatland could not celebrate his 100th wales Test. He said he ‘didn’t care’ who went on to win the six nations, but did offer some nuggets on what makes Ireland so tough to beat. ‘They are hard to break down, that is the thing about the Irish,’ he said. ‘They are not flashy or anything like that, but they are clinical in terms of accuracy. ‘They keep the ball for lots of phases and when they get into your 22, they normally come away with points. ‘You have to keep your patience against an Irish team, be prepared to kick a little bit and stay in that arm wrestle and wait for your opportunities.’ And while wales’s tournament is effectively over, Gatland still sees merit in the matches to come against Italy and France, as they will tell him if certain players are ready for Test rugby. ‘we need to make changes against Italy because we want to see where some of the squad is at this level,’ he added. ‘The focus changes. It is important we try to finish in that top three, but also start thinking in terms of the development for the world Cup.’
IRELAND: Kearney 7; Earls 8 (McFadden 64min, 6), Farrell 8, Aki 7.5, Stockdale 7.5; Sexton 6 (Carbery 77), Murray 7; Healy 7.5 (McGrath 64, 7), Best 7 (Cronin 69), Porter 7.5 (John Ryan 65, 7); James Ryan 7.5, Toner 7 (Roux 74); O’Mahony 6 (Conan 66), Stander 7, Leavy 7.
WALES: Halfpenny 7; L Williams 6 (North 64, 7), S Williams 6, Parkes 5, S Evans 6.5; Biggar 6 (Anscombe 64, 5), G Davies 7; R Evans 6 (W Jones 56, 6), Owens 6 (Dee 56, 5), Lee 5 (Francis 56, 5); Hill 5 (B Davies 64, 6), AW Jones 5.5; Shingler 6, Moriarty 6 (Tipuric 64, 6), Navidi 7.
Referee: Glen Jackson (New Zealand) 6.