WALES STUNNED AS WAIT GOES ON
WALES’ wait for a first win in this year’s Six Nations goes on as Ireland responded to their loss to Italy in dominant style, picking up a bonus point as they ran in five tries.
The visitors finished strongly with debutant Gwennan Hopkins crossing before they later had a try ruled out for a forward pass but the result had already been put beyond doubt by the time they troubled the scorers.
Aoife Wafer got the hosts on the scoreboard after 15 minutes, driving over despite the attentions of four Welsh defenders and Dannah O’Brien added the extras.
Five minutes later the lead had doubled, centre Eve Higgins crossing following a break by scrum-half Aoibheann Reilly. O’Brien was again on target.
While Wales struggled to keep hold of the ball, Ireland were ruthless, and a maul following a lineout saw Neve Jones touch down, O’Brien’s kicking remaining faultless.
Soon after Natalia John replaced Bethan Lewis at No. 8 in an effort to change the flow of the game, and the sides went into the half-time break with no further change to the score.
But within two minutes of the restart the hosts were 28 points to the good. A Lleucu George clearance was charged down by Irish winger Katie Corrigan and she gathered the loose ball and raced in under the posts and O’Brien made no mistake with the conversion.
She extended the lead with a penalty after a Welsh offside and on the hour mark the hosts made sure of the bonus point.
Player of the match Wafer burst forward and sent sevens star Beibhinn Parsons clear down the left to race over and for once O’Brien missed from the tee.