Carmarthen Journal

How they rated

- JON DOEL Sports writer jon.doel@walesonlin­e.co.uk

LEIGH HALFPENNY

Had been finding it hard to impose himself on the match but came up with a lovely pass to put Louis-rees Zammit over for his try. Also fired over a pressure conversion. Steady without being spectacula­r.

LOUIS REES-ZAMMIT

Just turned 20, and celebrated his birthday with a wonderful finish – cool, calm and utterly deadly.

The youngster showed an appetite in defence, too.

He had a fine all-round game.

GEORGE NORTH

Square peg in a round hole? That’s what some suggested of North’s selection in the centre rather than on the wing. But the big man finished well in credit, taking his try superbly and featuring in the build-up to Louis Rees-zammit’s try.

JOHNNY WILLIAMS

Sam Warburton had picked Williams out beforehand as a potential Lions bolter. The Scarlet didn’t last long, though, with injury striking after just 23 minutes.

HALLAM AMOS

Made little impression on the game. Touched the ball just once before the break, and taken out with a high tackle when trying a run later.

DAN BIGGAR

Was outshone by Sexton in the first 40 minutes, but pretty much any other No. 10 in the world would have been.

But Biggar stuck with it.

One tackle on Ringrose eased Welsh nerves.

TOMOS WILLIAMS

He defended well in his time on the field, tackling with venom. He also looked lively in attack in the opening 40 minutes. A hamstring injury cut short Williams’ involvemen­t.

STAR MAN: WYN JONES

Stepped forward when Wales were under pressure to rip the ball clear of Josh van der Flier and send out a back-of-the-hand pass. Dispossess­ed himself later, but the unsung Jones carried relentless­ly before being replaced on 67 minutes.

Named as the official man of the match.

REPLACEMEN­TS

Tompkins for J. Williams (24) Sheedy for Amos (65), G. Davies for T. Williams (41) R. Jones for W. Jones (65), Brown for Francis (65) Rowlands for Beard (65), Navidi for Lydiate (13). Not used: Dee.

IRELAND

Keenan; Earls, Ringrose, Henshaw, Lowe; Sexton, Murray; Healy, Herring, Porter, Beirne, Ryan, O’mahony, Stander, van der Flier. Replacemen­ts: Larmour for Earls (61), Burns for Sexton (69), Gibson-park for Murray (72), Kilcoyne for Healy (51), Kelleher for Herring (72), Furlong for Porter (54), Henderson for Ryan (24), Connors for van der Flier (59).

REFEREE

Wayne Barnes (England).

6 7 8 6 5 6 6 KEN OWENS

The Welsh line-out misfired again, with four throws snaffled by by the opposition. Owens put in a lot of good running and tackling, but he’ll be annoyed at how the line-out functioned.

TOMAS FRANCIS

Copped a hit to the head from Peter O’mahony that resulted in the Irishman seeing a red card. Francis put the bump behind him to come up with a gargantuan defensive performanc­e that saw the tighthead put in 19 tackles.

ADAM BEARD

His recall went under the radar. But he picked off an Irish throw in a dangerous position and defended solidly.

ALUN WYN JONES (C)

Jones sported a black eye after a training ground clash with Jake Ball. It made not a jot of difference to his performanc­e. This was leadership from the front.

DAN LYDIATE

The old warrior picked up a nasty bump to his knee and was

6 forced off after just 13 minutes. He’d made six tackles by then. It just wasn’t to be, though.

JUSTIN TIPURIC

Had defended well until failing to hold Henshaw as the Irish centre charged through to set up his side’s first try. Atoned with a turnover and a

7 wonderful try-saving hit in final seconds. Made 29 tackles.

TAULUPE FALETAU 6 7 7 8

Another who couldn’t stop Henshaw’s power run to set up the try for Tadhg Beirne. But Faletau grafted throughout, finishing with

19 tackles and making 26 metres with ball in hand.

7 8

JOHNNY Williams was lucky to avoid a red card in Wales’s defeat of Ireland, says a leading Irish pundit.

The visitors were forced to play with 14 men for 66 minutes at the Principali­ty Stadium after flanker Peter O’mahony was sent off for leading with an arm to Tomas Francis’s head.

But former Irish internatio­nal Alan Quinlan claims Scarlets centre Williams was fortunate not to be joining him on the sidelines for what looked a high challenge on Garry Ringrose.

The tackle went unpunished by referee Wayne Barnes and his fellow officials.

He said: “On review, if you look at the Johnny Williams tackle on Ringrose, if Ringrose goes down there it is going to be reviewed and that’s potentiall­y a red card as well.

“It was a head-high challenge and it was a wrap of an arm around the neck and face area and Ringrose did really well to ride that tackle and if he goes down, I think it could have been a red card for Wales.

“It definitely would have been a yellow but that was never reviewed and was missed by the TMO.

“He got it wrong. It was missed. “You can clearly see on the replay it wasn’t fine.”

The Irish pundits who branded Wales a “rubbish” team and predicted they would be thrashed by Ireland have insisted Wayne Pivac’s side weren’t very good despite the 21-16 victory.

The fact Wales were unable to put away an Irish team who played the bulk of the match with 14 men following Peter O’mahony’s red card left some observers unimpresse­d.

Off the Ball hosts Ger Gilroy and Eoin Sheahan had caused a stir with their stinging assessment of Wales prior to the match.

And following the result, Gilroy said: “We’re taking a bit of heat from our Welsh counterpar­ts, as we should. That’s the back and forth that comes with big-time rugby.

“However, that was still a Wales team that had 66 minutes against 14 men and they weren’t very good!”

 ??  ??
 ??  ?? Johnny Williams tackles Garry Ringrose at the Principali­ty Stadum on Sunday.
Picture: Getty Images
Johnny Williams tackles Garry Ringrose at the Principali­ty Stadum on Sunday. Picture: Getty Images
 ??  ?? Peter O’mahony is sent off.
Peter O’mahony is sent off.

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