Sexton pulled the strings expertly from fly half but he along with scrum half Conor Murray had an armchair ride behind a dominant and destructive pack.
A decidedly flat performance from Wales contrasted starkly to an Irish side which was in total control throughout. A try in each half gave Ireland their first back-to-back victories at the beginning of a Six Nations campaign since their Grand Slam year of 2009.
Wales were masters of their own downfall however with ill-discipline, turnovers, dropped passes and missed tackles proving costly.
Ireland began the game having made two changes to their starting line-up, with Paul O’Connell returning as captain after missing the Scotland game with a chest infection while Gordon D’Arcy returned to the midfield, replacing Luke Marshall, while Dan Tuohy dropped to the bench because of O’Connell’s return.
Sam Warburton led Wales one of three changes – all in the pack. Warburton replaced Justin Tipuric at open-side flanker while Gethin Jenkins came into the front row while Dragons’ Andrew Coombs replaced an injured Luke Charteris.
The opening minutes proved spikey with both packs putting down a marker. Jonathan Sexton opened the scoring in the 7th minute after Dan Lydiate was penalised at a ruck.
The early stages resembled a warzone with Scott Williams, George North and Ireland talisman Brian O’Driscoll all feeling the full force of the physical nature in a brutal opening stanza.
Sexton put Ireland 6-0 ahead in the 16th minute as a disappointed Williams was forced off with a damaged shoulder from his earlier clash with O’Driscoll. Liam Williams came on to the wing with North moving into centre.
Andrew Trimble’s dancing feet got him to within sniffing distance of the Wales tryline but he had no support and the Welsh defence was able to regroup and clear the danger.
Ireland’s Chris Henry scored the first try of the match after receiving the ball directly from Devin Toner in a lineout. The Irish pack drove the Welsh backwards and the Irish flanker ploughed over. Sexton’s excellent conversion from wide out suddenly gave Ireland a 13 point cushion.
The defending Six Nations champions faced an uphill task as they began the second half 13-0 behind. It didn’t get any easier when Gethin Jenkins was penalised for taking out the support in a lineout and Sexton increased the Irish lead to 16-0.
Wales eventually got on the scoreboard when Leigh Halfpenny sent a penalty sailing between the posts in the 57th minute but that was quickly cancelled out by Sexton after Jenkins was penalised for putting his hands in a ruck.
Ireland’s pack were in total control by the time they set up a rolling maul that travelled 20m before Conor Murray peeled away and sent replacement fly half Paddy Jackson over. Jackson’s easy conversion was the final nail in the coffin as Ireland sealed a comfortable victory.
