Simon Easterby pleased with Ireland’s grit in victory over Wales
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Ireland full-back Jamie Osborne diving over the line to score a try during the Six Nations match against Wales.
PHOTO: AFP
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CARDIFF – Ireland interim coach Simon Easterby admitted his side were made to sweat to the last as they eked out a 27-18 victory over Wales in their Six Nations clash in Cardiff on Feb 22, and remained on course for a hat-trick of titles.
The Irish were not at their fluent best, and struggled in the scrums, but were also put under huge pressure by a rejuvenated Welsh team who nevertheless slipped to a 15th straight defeat.
“I think there’s been some really poor media talk around Wales and the state of the game (in the country),” Easterby told reporters. “We knew they would be a tough opposition. We knew they would play with that type of passion.
“You look at the tries they scored and the one Ellis Mee didn’t in the corner, they have the ability to play with ball in hand. They made it tough. We knew it would be tougher than some in the media suggested.”
Ireland led 10-0 midway through the first half but were 13-10 behind at half-time. It was only in the closing stages of the game that they managed to pull away on the scoreboard.
“We knew Wales would come back into it if we gave them an opportunity. I’m pleased with how we dealt with that,” Easterby added.
Ireland lost centre Garry Ringrose to a 20-minute red card in the first half after a dangerous tackle that resulted in head-on-head contact with Wales centre Ben Thomas.
It was initially a yellow card before being upgraded to red on bunker review.
“Those can go either way,” Easterby said as he defended his player. “Ringrose is a brilliant player for us. Everything he does is with intent, in terms of the speed he works. That’s probably cost him. He’s not a dirty player.”
New interim Wales coach Matt Sherratt wanted his side to be fearless in this clash with Ireland and, despite the defeat, believes there is much to build on after a display full of heart and ambition.
“Firstly, I loved it, it was a great game,” he told the BBC. “This week has just been about us trying to get some confidence in the group and then trying to imprint what we’ve done on the field, and for large parts they did that.”
In another game, Finn Russell missed a last-gasp conversion as England did just enough to end a run of four straight Calcutta Cup defeats by Scotland with a 16-15 win at Twickenham that maintained their Six Nations title hopes.
Scotland outscored England three tries to one but, crucially, co-captain Russell was off target with all three conversions.
“I’m delighted in the last two games, the endings have gone our way,” England coach Steve Borthwick said.
“In many ways, it wasn’t pretty and there are things we want to do better but, ultimately, we kept our composure and found a way to win the game.”
If Russell had not missed his third conversion attempt in the final minute, then England’s recovery would have stalled badly, after they ended a run of seven defeats against Tier One nations with another last-minute win over France two weeks ago. REUTERS, AFP
