Wales left to sweat as Ireland win
IRELAND 19 WALES 10
Rhys Patchell’s third concussion in a year handed Wales a big World Cup injury scare as Ireland topped the world rankings for the first time with victory in Dublin yesterday.
Fly-half Patchell was bulldozed by flanker CJ Stander in the build-up to the game’s first try, as Ireland boss Joe Schmidt toasted his final match at the Aviva Stadium by steering Ireland to the top of World Rugby’s rankings.
Wales confirmed that Patchell failed a head injury assessment (HIA) and had suffered a concussion, the No. 10 lasting just 20 minutes.
Now, head coach Warren Gatland will face a nervous wait to see if the 26-year-old can recover in time for the World Cup, with Wales kick-starting their Pool D campaign against Georgia on September 23.
Ireland will wait on a possible knee injury for wing Keith Earls, amid a confidence-boosting victory where Kearney, Tadhg Furlong and James Ryan all bagged tries. Hadleigh Parkes going over for Wales.
Australia yesterday held off a late rally from Somoa to complete their World Cup warm-up with a 34-15 win in Parramatta.
A try from Adam Coleman after eight minutes, plus a fine solo effort from Marika Koroibete and scores by Adam Ashley-Cooper and Lukhan Salakaia-Loto made it 22-3 at the halftime interval.
Samoa’s Dwayne Polataivao, on as a replacement, scored twice in the space of eight minutes towards the hour mark, just after Coleman had been forced off with a wrist problem.
However, Dane HaylettPetty and Matt To’omua both produced late tries to see Michael Cheika’s men home.
Meanwhile, World Cup favourites New Zealand hammered Tonga 92-7 in their final warm-up game before the tournament begins in Japan.
The All Blacks were in awesome form as they ran in 14 tries in Hamilton with nine different try scorers.