289 tackles from magnificent Welsh as Ireland’s Grand Slam dreams hit red wall

The molehill reached mountainous proportions and Ireland found it insurmountable.

Wales took the Irish kitchen sink in the face and asked for more. The red dragons made 289 defensive tackles to win their Six Nations clash 23-16 at the Millennium Stadium. Leigh Halfpenny opened the scoring for Wales after two minutes when Wayne Barnes penalised Ireland at the breakdown. Wales started at a tremendous pace and Jonathan Davies tested the Irish defences up the left flank before Jamie Heaslip shut his charging run down. Peter O'Mahony was next to infringe at a Welsh ruck, however, and Halfpenny made it 6-0 from close range. The lead was stretched to 9-0 after 11 minutes as referee Barnes harshly penalised Heaslip for holding on after he was taken to ground. Halfpenny slotted over a beauty from 51 metres out. Within two minutes Barnes had pinged Jack McGrath and, following a hold-up in play for Samson Lee's leg injury - the Welsh fullback made it 12-0. Johnny Sexton had a chance to reduce the arrears, soon after, but dragged his penalty wide. Scott Baldwin's high tackle on Tommy Bowe gave the Irish out-half an immediate chance to redeem himself and his kick squeaked over. A chink of light arrived, on 28 minutes, when Sam Warburton was yellow-carded for putting hands in the ruck while off his feet. Sexton made it 12-6 to give Ireland hope. The man advantage meant little to a fired up Wales as they staged a superb rolling maul and Dan Biggar landed a crisply-struck drop goal. Just before the break, after a Paul O'Connell line break, Sexton chipped over a penalty awarded to his side after he was tackled off the ball. His kick made it 15-9 going into the break.

Ireland have trailed by 6 or more points at HT in 112 previous Tests. Won 8 of them, with the most recent being at Wales in 2009 — Russ Petty (@rpetty80) March 14, 2015

First-half stats

 

Tale of the first half, in stats: http://t.co/Eeu2e59QGP #RTErugby pic.twitter.com/Ghto3E3HfH — RTÉ Rugby (@RTErugby) March 14, 2015

Second half

Wales held out an eight-minute Ireland siege on their line - two separate phases totalling 35 - and, when Sexton was penalised, the home fans went ballistic. They then had a chance to put Ireland away, on 59 minutes, but the final pass to Halfpenny on the wing was too high. Wales were over, on 61 minutes, though as Scott Williams flummoxed Tommy Bowe to score. A grandstand finish was set up when Barnes awarded Ireland a penalty try after 68 minutes. Any hopes of a comeback win were extinguished when Sean O'Brien was penalised for snaffling Welsh ball while off his feet. As he did all day, Halfpenny slotted over to stretch the lead. Ireland pressed for the equalising try but Barnes, inexplicably, penalised an Irish maul and scrum to deliver the final blow. The tackle count, from ESPNScrum, sums up the Welsh commitment to the cause:

George hearts Pamela

Before the match even kicked off, there was a Six Nations moment to remember as George Hook mentioned Pamela Anderson's name in the RTE build-up. Shane Horgan's reaction says it all.