03/06/26 05:22:00
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03/06 17:20 CST Ireland scrapes past Wales in Dublin to stay in Six Nations
title race
Ireland scrapes past Wales in Dublin to stay in Six Nations title race
DUBLIN (AP) --- Ireland scraped past Wales 27-17 and stayed in the Six Nations
title race on Friday for at least 24 hours.
France can successfully retain the title by beating Scotland at Murrayfield on
Saturday.
While Ireland won its first-ever Friday home championship match with a four-try
bonus point, Wales took most of the plaudits.
Wales started as a 20-point underdog but was trailing by only two points as
late as the 68th minute.
Wales hadn't beaten Ireland in Dublin in the championship in 14 years but Irish
flyhalf Jack Crowley was made to kick a 77th-minute penalty to avoid the chance
of a humbling draw.
Wales was second best in terms of territory and possession but backed up its
three-point home loss to Scotland in the last round with magnificent defense,
and an even better all-round show of commitment and progress.
Wales' Six Nations losing streak was extended to 15 games and it may yet finish
the tournament with a third consecutive wooden spoon, but it was more
encouragingly competitive against Ireland than coach Steve Tandy hoped for.
"We're disappointed but massive pride in our character," Tandy said. "There's
confidence building in the team and that is going to take us to the win in the
near future."
There was none of the fist-pumping joy by Ireland coach Andy Farrell during the
record away win against England two weeks ago as his team failed to back that
up with the expected big win over Wales.
"Credit to Wales, they were outstanding, certainly getting better defensively,"
he told broadcaster ITV. "They made it a scrap so to come away with a
bonus-point, happy with that."
Wales didn't give Ireland the space on the outside that it enjoyed against
England. Wales' rush defense, spearheaded by center Eddie James, frequently
shut down Ireland attempts to go wide.
The defense was outstanding, especially on the tryline. Alex Mann made 28
tackles and two turnovers in his 22, Dafydd Jenkins added 27 tackles, James
Botham 24 and Dewi Lake 23.
Ireland started impressively. Winger Jacob Stockdale ran off the shoulder of
midfielder Stuart McCloskey, his Ulster clubmate, to score his first test try
since 2021.
Ireland had two more attacks of at least a dozen phases in the first 20
minutes. But an Irish knock-on rubbed out a try for Jack Conan, and the second
chance was turned over by Mann.
Holding out Ireland galvanized Wales.
Ireland took a half-hour to score again, through Crowley, who couldn't convert
his own try.
The Irish looked set to reach halftime up 12-3. But Wales prop Rhys Carre, who
was prevented from adding another tap penalty try that he managed against
France and Scotland, made like a winger from 35 meters out and blew past three
Irish for a brilliant try. Wales' leading try-scorer in the championship was
even smiling before he scored.
"I saw some space and went as hard as I could and no one caught me," Carre told
ITV.
The Irish gave themselves breathing room on the scoreboard again when Conan
scored from a tap penalty after halftime.
But Wales refused to bow down. Josh Adams botched a try chance throwing a
forward pass to Botham but Botham scored off a ruck and Dan Edwards converted
for 19-17.
It took a Joe McCarthy steal to launch the fourth Irish try walked in by
fullback Jamie Osborne with 12 minutes to go. Wales lost scrumhalf Tomos
Williams to the sin-bin and Crowley, who missed two easy goalkicks, made the
result safe for Ireland with his only penalty.
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AP rugby: https://apnews.com/hub/rugby
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