Ireland Top Wales in Six Nations Opener: A Tale of Two Halves

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at Internationaled.org

Published: February 2, 2013

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The 2013 Six Nations Championship opened with an absolute cracker at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff earlier this afternoon.

If this is a taste of things to come, then buckle up because this is going to be a great Six Nations.

The talk in the buildup was that any one of the top four sides had a chance to win, and today showed that is very much the case.

Ireland came flying out of the blocks, besting their Welsh opponents in all phases of the game. They tested the Welsh blitz defence early, looking to spread the ball wide to their flying wingers. A clean lineout was turned into a driving maul, and Ireland drove deep into Welsh territory. Mike Ross then got one over Gethin Jenkins in a scrum, and the ball was spread wide.

Rob Kearney came as a decoy, drawing Jonathan Davies for a split second, and gave Brian O'Driscoll a yard of space. Give O'Driscoll an inch and he will punish you, and punish he did. He drew in three defenders, took the tackle and gave a beautiful no-look pass for the flying Simon Zebo to race over the line.

With Ireland on top, the Welsh made repeated unforced errors when they did manage to get the ball in their hands.

Ireland's big ball carriers were crashing over the gain-line, giving Conor Murray quick balls at the base of the ruck. They came close to doubling their lead as Murray, Craig Gilroy and Cian Healy all got tackled short of the line before Andrew Coombs killed the ball, gifting Jonny Sexton an easy three points.

Again Wales tried to gain a foothold, but, again, a series of errors saw them on the back-foot. Dan Biggar took too much time with a clearing kick, giving Rory Best an easy block-down, and he raced into the Welsh half.



Best had the vision to spread the ball wide to Jamie Heaslip, who gave a bad pass to Zebo on the outside. Zebo, in a move reminiscent of Zinedine Zidane, flicked the ball into his hands wi...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Rugby Union

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