David Corkery on rugby: Ireland need more variety in their attack to take on best sides

Glass half-full or glass half-empty? I’ll let you decide.

As victories go, this one was far from flawless and a long way from comfortable. However, next weekend no one will really care if Ireland can beat Scotland next Saturday and win a Triple Crown.

I don’t think anyone had expected that Wales would come to Dublin and lie down to have their bellies tickled, but I also think that no one had expected that with 12 minutes to go that Wales would still be very much in the hunt.

Considering this defeat now represents Wales’s 15th consecutive loss in the Six Nations, and that Ireland were flying high after their superb win over England, I expected this game would have been a forgone conclusion at the half-time mark.

There are times when this Irish side just do enough to see themselves home. Teams like the Springboks and the All Blacks detect weakness and immediately go for the jugular and don’t stop until every last bit of fight is extinguished. 

If you needed proof of this, you need only go back to November of last year when South Africa racked up 73 unanswered points against Wales and did so at the home of Welsh rugby. And people wonder why Ireland can't advance beyond the quarter-finals of a World Cup...

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Wales launched themselves at anything in green that was carrying a ball with zero respect for their bodies. When you saw British & Irish Lions like Tadhg Berine and Tadhg Furlong getting stopped dead in their tracks and then driven back, it painted a very clear picture of just how committed our Celtic cousins were.

If Wales had the ability to hold on to the ball a bit longer and build more phases, they would find it a whole lot easier to create overlaps. They are also deprived of the creative players in their back line with the ability to break tackles and get in behind.

Ireland deserved their bonus-point victory, but unless they too start to alter their attacking strategies and look outside the playbook that tells them they must batter their way over the line, they will have no hope of beating physically bigger and stronger sides like France and South Africa.

In stark contrast to the English game, where players like Stuart McCloskey were allowed to build a head of steam and batter over England’s first-up tacklers, Wales decided that they would take the risk of getting beaten out wide and rush forward to stop Ireland's strike runners.

This defensive policy is very precarious, but on this occasion, it was working. In the end, it was the experience and guile that Ireland have acquired over the years that saw them take the spoils.

The subtle little plays and darting runs from Jamison Gibson-Park, the shrewdness of Man of the Match Jack Conan at the breakdown, and the inches that Gary Ringrose stole with ball in hand, all contributed handsomely to Ireland keeping their Triple Crown and championship hopes alive.

I was delighted to see Jacob Stockdale get a starting jersey. Having not appeared in the Six Nations since 2021 against England, Stockdale was rewarded by Farrell because of his performances for Ulster and it was great to see him cross the whitewash for the first try.

Stockdale’s fellow Ulster man and winger Robert Baloucoune wasn’t as influential as he was two weeks ago, but his ability to turn on a sixpence and accelerate in the blink of an eye makes him a continuous nightmare to defend against.

Hopefully, he will get a bit more space next week against Scotland to showcase his sublime finishing skills.

Apart from his placekicking, Jack Crowley did fine and will certainly hold on to his jersey for the last game of the campaign.

Ireland may have taken the win on this occasion, but in terms of progress, I think Wales will be the richer because of how they battled relentlessly and never gave up.

A win next week and Ireland's campaign will be viewed as a major success. However, should they lose, which is very possible, I think Farrell and his players will find themselves very much under the microscope once again. 

That’s just how fickle sport can be.