Backing up victory against Scotland a week earlier at Ystrad Mynach, Richie Pugh’s side secured a 27-19 triumph with a strong defensive display against a physical Irish side paving the way to a well-deserved victory.
The match was delicately poised 7-7 at the break with hooker Ruben Cummings crossing the white-wash for Wales, with fly half Carwyn Jones adding the extras.
In an evenly contested affair, Ireland then regained the lead in the second half but a converted try by Bowen and a penalty by Carwyn Jones edged Wales back in front 17-14.
The lead changed hands again when Ireland scored an unconverted try but Joseff Jones’ converted try put Wales back in front before Stef Jac Jones sealed the win with a snap drop goal.
“I’m really pleased for the boys as it was a real arm wrestle of a match,” said Pugh.
“It was a scrappy first half from set piece with penalties conceded from both sides but the second half opened up – they took an early lead but we found a way to claw ourselves back in front. The last 10 minutes was a nailbiter where we managed to secure the win with a try and drop goal at the end.
“We knew it would be a step up from last week against Scotland, especially with the physicality of the Irish teams. They are also smart in how they play but I thought our boys managed the game really well.
“We’ve still got work ons around the set piece but ultimately our defence was strong and solid but the line-break we did concede they scored from and that’s being a clinical Irish team but we kept strong and found a way to win. We also created a lot of opportunities through our strong strike attack and transition from turnover to get into the Irish 22 but just needed to be more clinical with looking after the ball and converting that pressure to points.”
“The Welsh back row was key in giving us a physical platform with strong ball carrying and a huge defensive workrate.
“Caio James was really strong in his first start at seven,” said Pugh. “He was physically strong defensively and turned over a lot of ball and likewise Deian Gwynne worked hard at number eight with a solid ball carrying display.
“In the backs we were defensively strong in midfield, while Carwyn Jones and Sion Davies ran the game well at half back, where they marshalled the game and put us in the right areas. And our back three looked a constant threat with ball in hand.”
Pugh will be required to trim his squad down to 26 players for the forthcoming Six Nations Festival being staged in Italy during Easter which is being held between March 30th – April 7 where Wales will face England, Portugal and France.
“The fact the boys backed up last week’s performance means we’re not too far off from a squad point of view. We’ll bring in back a few boys for camp next week before we finalise the 26 to travel,” said Pugh.
