Tuipulotu powers Wales past poor Irish
THE Women’s Six Nations got underway as Wales secured a dominant victory over Ireland to kickstart their campaign in front of a record attendance of 4,962 at Cardiff Arms Park.
Wales head coach Ioan Cunningham was thrilled with his side’s performance and gave high praise to his prop Sisilia Tuipulotu.
He said: “I’m pleased for the players, they put in so much hard-work and I’m just absolutely delighted that we’ve started with a win and a bonus point.
“I think up-front we put a great platform and we managed to go after that as well, so I was pleased with that.
“The crowd was amazing and gave us a boost here. We’re chuffed with the game plan, we stuck at it.
“It’s going to be a tough challenge away in Scotland but we’ve started with a win so we’ll enjoy that, reflect on it and move forward.
“I genuinely think Sisilia Tuipulotu can be one of the best props in the world, she showed today what she can do.”
Wales asserted themselves early on after winning a huge scrum penalty just inside halfway. From the resulting driving lineout the Welsh pack launched a driving maul that rumbled over the line. Alex Callender emerged from the mass of bodies to claim the score and put the Welsh in front.
Wales came again with another try, this time through Keira Bevan with an opportune, sniping score. The home side continued their set piece dominance five metres out with another monstrous driving maul over Ireland’s line.
Replacement Sioned Harries got the score and Wales stretched their lead to 19-0 thanks to Bevan nailing the conversion.
Wales got their try bonus point in the first half when Kerin Lake rampaged through Nicole Cronin and put her centre partner, Hannah Jones under the sticks.
Wales’ physicality was outstanding and big carries from Tuipulotu, Hannah Jones and Gwenllian Pyrs consistently got the home side into positions where really hurt Ireland.
Welsh dominance continued into the second half as the massively impressive debutant Tuipulotu burst over from short range.
Ireland’s first real attack of the match came just after the hour mark.
They applied some real pressure to the Welsh line and they finally got a score on the board when Nichola Fryday rode two tackles to score and give the Irish something to smile about.
Ireland made use of the strong wind swirling around the Cardiff Arms Park and got some more success in the second half but Wales were proving to be too strong for the visiting Ireland side.
The Welsh closed out the game and will be delighted with their performance, raring to go ahead of next week when they take on Scotland, while Ireland will need to regroup fast.