David Corkery on rugby: Wales scare might be the warning Ireland needed
Ireland's Jamie Osborne scores a try against Wales. Picture: INPHO/Ben Brady
It could have been worse but it also could have been a hell of a lot better.
In saying that, Triple Crowns are not that easy to come by and what’s more important is the Grand Slam aspirations are very much still alive and kicking.
Before a ball was kicked in anger, Ireland were already being crowned Triple Crown champions and the advice for Wales was it might be best if they stayed at home.
Had the 21-year-old Welsh debutant winger Ellis Mee been one inch taller, Simon Easterby and his captain could very well have been entering the post-match conference as a losing combination. Thankfully for Ireland, Mee’s stretch fell milometers short and after a very long investigation by the TMO Ian Tempest, it was deemed that Mee knocked on.
In many respects Wales’s heroic efforts kind of reminded me of Ireland in the '90s where endeavours were brave, but the fuel tank regularly ran out in the last 10 minutes, and there was a collective sigh of relief by supporters, media, players and coaches that we were not at the end of a humiliating scoreline.
With a new coach at the helm and no great expectations hanging around their necks, Wales will probably be very happy, but if the truth be told they are still stuck in that downward habitual spiral where the truth is often masked by a performance of hope.
Fifteen straight losses could well be 17 by the end of this year's Six Nations. And the road ahead of them hasn’t become any easier because they played reasonably well in just one game. If they do want to take some kind of positivity out of what transpired it should be focused entirely on the win their U20s ground out.
Welsh rugby has a mountain to climb and I can tell you now that it's going to take a generation before they can call themselves great once again. I truly wish them well.
Ireland now have two weeks to lick their wounds and prepare for the invasion of Antoine Dupont and his band of temperamental superstars. French rugby and their mesmerising players are the greatest bunch of underachievers to have graced the rugby fields in the modern era.
Bursting at the seams with talent, instinctive skill, raw emotion and brute strength France should be winning the Six Nations every year, but because of their moodiness, we have no idea what kind of French side will touch down in Dublin airport in two weeks from now.
After losing to England by butchering five clear-cut chances, they brought an abrupt end to the hopes of winning a Grand Slam and because of this, I’d like to think that when they arrive in Dublin their focus will have shifted from beating Ireland at all costs to wondering what might have been.
A scare of any kind is never a bad thing to have transpired when you are chasing a dream of creating history and I’d like to think that Simon Easterby and his coaching ticket will view Saturday’s narrow win as a very clear warning shot across their bow.
The reason why Ireland have achieved so much over the last decade is down to them focusing on the basics of the game and winning the gain-line battles however, on Saturday their scrum became a liability and gave Wales multiple opportunities to clear the ball from their danger zone.
I’d like to think that Tadhg Furlong will be back from injury at this stage and that will make a big difference to how the Irish scrum functions. It won’t determine who wins on the day, but it will allow the Irish backs a reliable platform to launch their attacks.
Jack Conan was immense, but Peter O’Mahony and Josh Van Der Flier were not operating at the normal high level and this gave Wales that extra second to move the ball quickly from the breakdown.
As I’ve stated at the start this game could have ended a whole pile worse and I just hope now that Ireland learn from the mistakes that they made.
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