Wales' win over Ireland might have been too little too late for their Six Nations Championship hopes, but beating their Celtic rivals gives them the bragging rights as their focus turns to the summer. To the British and Irish Lions tour.
Defeat against Ireland on Friday night in Cardiff would’ve meant three home defeats on the bounce for Wales, and the end of an era perhaps?
Well what a difference a win makes, now the Welsh media are backing another Welsh dominated Lions selection.
Rob Lloyd from WalesOnline (Western Mail) even thinks Rhys Webb now has an edge over Conor Murray.
"George North was one of a number of Welsh players who got the better of their opposite numbers on the night.
"In the much-anticipated No. 9 duel, man of the match Rhys Webb outshone Conor Murray, who was forced to leave the field early in the second half after taking a blow to his shoulder; Ken Owens was a clear winner in his battle with Ireland skipper Rory Best; Liam Williams looked livelier than both Keith Earls and Simon Zebo, while Justin Tipuric and Sam Warburton stood out against a muscular Irish back row in which CJ Stander was outstanding again."
There was massive Welsh pride in their morning ages, particularly for their defensive intensity.
Matthew Southcombe writes about "how an aggressive and intelligent Wales defence made an intricate Irish attack look very ordinary...
"Johnny Sexton often takes the ball behind an initial wave of runners, sometimes on the loop. It means Ireland spend a lot of time playing behind the gainline as Sexton waits for the right moment to strike. So, how do Wales go about exploiting that?"
Well the reasons given, and the components for their victory, are – aggressive defence led by the centres, Warburton and Tipuric working in tandem to dominate the breakdown, not falling for the decoys and maul defence.
"A titanic Test match, but it's probably fair to say Wayne Barnes isn't everybody's favourite referee in Ireland this morning," writes former Welsh referee David Bodilly.
“Ireland lost, so I guess someone has to be blamed!” He claims.
“But the fact of the matter is that when it came to the really big calls at Principality Stadium on Friday night, Barnsey got them spot on.”
His view on the crucial yellow card, “From Barnes’ angle, he thought that Sexton was preventing quick release.
“Given the incident occurred in what we call the red zone, ie right by the try line, Barnes fairly deduced that if Wales got that quick ball, the chances are they would have scored a try.
“That being the case, it was a clear yellow card and Sexton had to go.”
More than a few on this side of the Irish sea might disagree.
But they can’t argue with: “for all that Wales were far better, it was a poor display from Ireland who were disjointed for most of the 80 minutes.”
