FULL-TIME: IRELAND 31 WALES 5
Ireland beat Wales 31-5 at Lansdowne Road this afternoon, but the loss of Stephen Jones to injury midway through the first half seriously hampered the visitors' chances of winning this crucial RBS 6 Nations clash.
80 mins Ireland conversion. O'Gara puts the final gloss on the result. Ireland 31 Wales 5.
80 mins Ireland try. Ireland look to finish on a high. D'Arcy is stopped just shy of the line amd after a series of near misses Stringer creeps over for a rare try in the green shirt. Ireland 29 Wales 5.
78 mins Shane Horgan is named RBS man-of-the-match.
76 mins Ireland win the line-out and form a maul which forces its way over the Wales line. The video referee is consulted. The try is denied and Wales are awarded a penalty. Apparently it was for Denis Leamy kicking a Wales player on the ground.
76 mins Ireland substitution. Rory Best for hooker Jerry Flannery.
76 mins Ireland substitution. Mick O'Driscoll comes on in place of Simon Easterby.
75 mins Ireland awarded another penalty. With the result beyond doubt, O'Gara kicks to the corner.
74 mins Ireland substitution. Try-scorer David Wallace is replaced by Johnny O'Connor.
73 mins Stringer is upended by Mark Jones after the Munster man stood on the Welsh winger's leg.
72 mins Wales substitution. Lee Byrne comes off as Barry Davies is given eight minutes to make an impression.
72 mins Horan has been taken straight to hospital with a suspected neck injury.
68 mins Ireland substitution. Marcus Horan is replaced by Ulster's Simon Best. The Munster prop was injured as Gethin Jenkins led with his forearm while Horan was involved on the ground. Horan is stretchered off the field.
66 mins Wales look deflated at a Lansdowne Road venue that has remained relatively subdued throughout this crunch clash.
62 Stringer breaks off the back of a scrum. His burst for the line is halted by Byrne and Delve gets back to prevent Easterby from following up.
60 mins Wales substitution. Mefin Davies come on in place of Rhys Thomas.
58 mins Ireland penalty. O'Gara atones for his earlier mistakes to slot over a testing kick. Ireland 24 Wales 5.
57 mins Simon Easterby is dragged down in the line-out. O'Gara gets the chance to redeem the two sitters he missed earlier.
55 Wales substitution. Gareth Delve replaces Colin Charvis. The veteran flanker has had better days in the red jersey.
54 Wales' kicking is becoming increasingly erratic. What started with Henson seems to have spread through the team.
52 mins A brilliant clearance from Murphy forces Wales back deep into their 22.
51 mins O'Gara puts a simple penalty wide. He is not on top form today.
47 mins Ireland penalty. O'Gara guides the ball between the posts and Ireland are looking comfortable now. Ireland 21 Wales 5.
46 mins Gordan D'Arcy is cynically taken out by Rhys Thomas as he tried to chase his own kick. Ireland are awarded a penalty.
45 mins Wales substitution. Gethin Jenkins replaces prop Duncan Jones.
44 mins Ireland conversion. O'Gara converts the conversion. Ireland 18 Wales 5.
43 mins Ireland try. Horgan does wondefully to prevent O'Driscoll's skip pass from touching the ground and cuts inside two Welsh defenders for an easy finish. Ireland 16 Wales 5.
41 mins Henson still looks out of sorts as he slices yet another kick into touch.
40 mins Ireland get off to a flyer, with Murphy and Horgan combining to unleash O'Driscoll. The Lions captain kicks over the top, but Wales scrum-half Dwayne Peel gets back to cover.
40 mins Ronan O'Gara starts the second half.
HALF TIME: Ireland lead Wales by 11-5 at half time at Lansdowne Road. Coach Eddie O'Sullivan will be happy with the score, but will also surely know that the visitors were in control of this game until they lost influential out-half Stephen Jones on 18 minutes.
39 mins The referee appears to blow up 30 seconds early. The two teams depart the field, with both still in with a chance of taking full points from this tight encounter.
36 mins Ireland captain Brian O'Driscoll crashes into the advertising hoarding over at the East Stand. He returns to the fray shaken, but able to carry on.
35 mins A static Ireland mess up a good chance, as crossing hands Wales a chance to relieve some pressure.
34 mins Wales are clearly missing the influence of the departed Stephen Jones.
33 mins Referee Kaplan warns both captains that he will be reaching for cards soon, if the sides don't clean up their act.
32 mins Ireland penalty. O'Gara makes no mistake with the kick to give the Irish a six-point lead. Ireland 11 Wales 5.
31 mins Ireland are awarded a penalty after Henson is deemed guilty of playing the ball out of the tackle.
30 mins Some great interplay between Shane Horgan, O'Gara and Jerry Flannery sends the latter charging towards the corner. However, a last-gasp tackle holds the Munster hooker up inches from the line.
28 mins O'Gara slices a penalty and fails to reach touch. The Irish fly-half is let off the hook, however, as a rusty Henson kicks the ball straight into touch from outside his 22.
24 mins O'Gara misses a relatively simple conversion.
23 mins Ireland try. An Irish maul sees David Wallace go over. The video referee sees no reason not to grant Ireland the five points. Ireland 8 Wales 5.
21 mins Denis Leamy goes over the Welsh line but appears to have failed to ground the ball. After consulting the video referee, Jonathan Kaplan gives a scrum to the home side.
21 mins Malcolm O'Kelly steals a line-out. Trimble does well to recycle, giving O'Gara an opportunity to put the ball into the West Stand corner. Dafydd James carries the ball over the line to give Ireland the line-out.
20 mins A box kick from Irish scrum-half Peter Stringer sends Wales' full-back Lee Byrne scampering back.
18 mins Wales substitution. Gavin Henson comes on for injured Welsh out-half Stephen Jones (dead leg). Henson's first duty is to find touch with a penalty, which he completes successfully.
17 mins Denis Leamy knocks on as Ireland looked to be in a promising position. The Irish have yet to come to terms with their Celtic opponents, who are looking very comfortable.
15 mins Ireland penalty. O'Gara finds his range from 40 metres out. Ireland 3 Wales 5.
12 mins Ireland deal with Wales' attack and O'Gara brings play back to the half-way line with a relieving kick.
11 mins Ireland are penalised for obstruction. Stephen Jones puts the penalty into touch just inside the Ireland 22.
8 mins Stephen Jones misses the conversion into the Havelock Square end from a tight angle near the right touchline.
7 mins Wales try. Andrew Trimble fails to deal with a kick from Matthew Watkins, allowing Mark Jones steal in and touch down. A very soft score to concede. Wales 5 Ireland 0.
5 mins Wales have had far the better of the opening exchanges.
4 mins O'Gara misses a tackle on Stephen Jones, which leads to a period of concerted pressure on the edge of Ireland's 22.
3 mins Shane Horgan almost intercepts but fumbles and Wales are awarded a scrum.
2 mins Stephen Jones drops the penalty short. Geordan Murphy finds touch with his clearance.
1 min Ireland are caught offside inside their own half.
1 min Wales won the toss and have elected to play against the wind in the first half. Stephen Jones kicks off to get the game underway.
Ireland: G Murphy (Leicester); S Horgan (Leinster), B O'Driscoll (Leinster, captain), G D'Arcy (Leinster), A Trimble (Ulster); R O'Gara (Munster), P Stringer (Munster); M Horan (Munster), J Flannery (Munster), J Hayes (Munster), D O'Callaghan (Munster), M O'Kelly (Leinster), S Easterby (Llanelli), D Wallace (Munster), D Leamy (Munster).
Replacements: R Best (Ulster), S Best (Ulster), M O'Driscoll (Munster), J O'Connor (Wasps), E Reddan (Wasps), D Humphreys (Ulster), G Dempsey (Leinster).
Wales: L Byrne (Llanelli Scarlets); M Jones (Llanelli Scarlets), H Luscombe (Newport Gwent Dragons), M Watkins (Llanelli Scarlets), D James (Llanelli Scarlets); S Jones (Clermont Auvergne), D Peel (Llanelli Scarlets); D Jones (Ospreys), R Thomas (Cardiff Blues), A Jones (Ospreys), I Gough (Newport-Gwent Dragons), R Sidoli (Cardiff Blues), C Charvis (Newcastle), M Williams (Cardiff Blues), M Owen (Newport-Gwent Dragons, capt).
Replacements: M Davies (Gloucester), G Jenkins (Cardiff Blues), J Thomas (Ospreys), G Delve (Bath), M Phillips (Cardiff Blues), G Henson (Ospreys), B Davies (Llanelli Scarlets).
