Wales 24 Ireland 25
Ireland held on for a dramatic 25-24 win over a rejuvenated Wales in Cardiff this afternoon to move within one victory of a second grand slam, 55 years after their first.
Ireland scrape through with injury-time win
Wales 24 Ireland 25
Ireland held on for a dramatic 25-24 win over a rejuvenated Wales in Cardiff this afternoon to move within one victory of a second grand slam, 55 years after their first.
Ronan O'Gara kicked a late drop-goal in answer to Wales' Stephen Jones kick as the lead went back and forth within a matter of seconds inside injury time at the end of the match.
Ireland, who must beat England in Dublin next week for a tournament sweep, started slowly at the Millennium Stadium and Wales got the first try when flyhalf Jones bulldozed his way over the line after 15 minutes.
But flyhalf David Humphreys kicked Ireland back into the lead and a try in the corner either side of halftime from flanker Keith Gleeson put them 19-7 up after two minutes of the second half.
Wales hit back 10 minutes later with a peach of a try finished off by flanker Martyn Williams, his first in 32 tests, before Humphreys added his fourth penalty.
But Wales came back again with a converted try from Gareth Thomas making the score 22-21 before Jones's drop goal appeared to have given the home side their first win over the Irish in Cardiff since 1983.
Thirty seconds later O'Gara's drop goal put Ireland's dream back on track.
Scorers:
Wales- Try: Stephen Jones, Martyn Williams, Gareth Thomas; Conversion: Jones (3); Drop goal: Jones
Ireland- Try: Keith Gleeson (2); Penalties: David Humphreys (4); Drop goal: Ronan O'Gara
Wales
Rhys Williams (Cardiff); Mark Jones (Llanelli), Mark Taylor(Swansea), Tom Shanklin (Saracens/Eng), Gareth Thomas (Bridgend);Stephen Jones (Llanelli), Gareth Cooper (Bath/Eng); Colin Charvis(Swansea), Martyn Williams (Cardiff), Dafydd Jones (Llanelli);Robert Sidoli (Pontypridd), Gareth Llewellyn (Neath); Gethin Jenkins(Pontypridd), Jonathan Humphreys (Bath, capt), Iestyn Thomas(Llanelli)
Replacements used: Matthew Watkins (Llanelli), Mefin Davies(Pontypridd), Iestyn Harris (Cardiff), Martyn Madden (Llanelli)Steve Williams (Northampton/Eng), Gavin Thomas (Bath/Eng),Dwayne Peel (Llanelli).
Ireland
Geordan Murphy (Leicester/Eng); Justin Bishop (LondonIrish/Eng), Brian O'Driscoll (Leinster, capt), Kevin Maggs(Bath/Eng), Denis Hickie (Leinster); David Humphreys (Ulster), PeterStringer (Munster); Anthony Foley (Munster), Keith Gleeson(Leinster), Alan Quinlan (Munster); Leo Cullen (BlackrockCollege/Leinster), Malcolm O'Kelly (Leinster); John Hayes (Munster),Shane Byrne (Leinster), Marcus Horan (Munster)
Replacements used: Eric Miller (Leinster), Ronan O'Gara(Munster), Donncha O'Callaghan (Munster), Justin Fitzpatrick(Ulster)Frank Sheahan (Munster), Guy Easterby (Llanelli/Wal), John Kelly(Munster)