Ireland started their 2002 Six Nations campaign with a hugely impressive 54-10 victory over Wales at Lansdowne Road today.
Eddie O’Sullivan’s team were on fire for most of the match and totally overwhelmed a lacklustre Welsh side. The match was virtually over as a contest at half time after tries from Geordan Murphy and Paul O’Connell and a 14-point haul from the boot of David Humphries left Wales trailing 24-3 at the break.
Disappointment followed for debutante O’Connell after he was forced to retire due to injury. However, the Irish onslaught continued in the second half with tries from Murphy, Hickey and substitutes Keith Gleeson and Ronan O’Gara. David Humphries, who kicked a total of 22 points, was named man of the match.
"We got a good start, we made a few early scores and that settled us down," said Irish coach Eddie O'Sullivan, “but we are going to Twickenham to play England next, so if that doesn’t sober the mind nothing will.”
The impressive Humphreys said the margin of the victory was unexpected: “It was important to set our stall out early on, and we got a couple of scores early on. That was beyond anything we could have expected ourselves. There was a lot of pressure on us to perform, and for the most part I think we performed fairly well. There was a quiet period in the middle of the game, but we came through that and finished strongly at the end,” he said.
Teams:
Ireland: 15 Girvan Dempsey, 14 Geordan Murphy, 13 Brian O'Driscoll, 12 Kevin Maggs, 11 Denis Hickie (22 Rob Henderson 74mins), 10 David Humphreys (21 Ronan O'Gara 74mins), 9 Peter Stringer (20 Guy Easterby 76mins), 8 Anthony Foley, 7 David Wallace, 6 Simon Easterby, 5 Paul O'Connell (18 Gary Longwell 39mins), 4 Mick Galwey (captain) (19 Keith Gleeson 72mins), 3 John Hayes, 2 Frank Sheahan (16 Shane Byrne 72mins), 1 Peter Clohessy (17 Paul Wallace 71mins).
Wales: 15 Kevin Morgan, 14 Dafydd James, 13 Jamie Robinson (21 Andy Marinos 9mins), 12 Iestyn Harris, 11 Craig Morgan, 10 Stephen Jones, 9 Robert Howley (20 Dwayne Peel 57mins), 8 Scott Quinnell (captain), 7 Martyn Williams, 6 Nathan Budgett, 5 Chris Wyatt (18 Ian Gough 8mins), 4 Craig Quinnell, 3 Chris Anthony, 2 Robin McBryde (16 Barry Williams 69mins), 1 Spencer John (17 Duncan Jones 56mins).
Filed by Tom Grealis
