The biggest fear, said Warren Gatland after Wales became the first side to win here since New Zealand in 2013, was of losing not the match but players less than 48 hours before he announced his World Cup squad. While he savoured a performance that evoked the three Six Nations Championship winning years under his reign as head coach, he was concerned that injuries suffered by two of his stalwarts, Jamie Roberts and Alun Wyn Jones, should remain in the minor category.
Roberts, the centre whose powerful runs put Wales on the front foot, was taken off with 16 minutes to go after failing to run off a rib injury. Jones followed eight minutes later after his left leg caught in the ground as he was tackled late by Sean Cronin. Such has been the pivotal importance of the pair to Gatland this decade that they cannot be replaced in kind. “We took them off as a precaution but it can take 24 to 48 hours to assess a player’s fitness,” Gatland said.
They will be named in Wales’s squad on Monday, an announcement that will be made publicly at the Millennium Stadium before the players have been told. Gatland’s first task after his media duties will be to ring the seven players who failed to make the 31 to explain why but, after releasing three Lions, Mike Phillips, Richard Hibbard and James Hook earlier this month, the biggest calls have already been made.
With the Ireland head coach, Joe Schmidt, announcing his World Cup squad at the same time as Gatland, there was a risk that players on both sides might have made not getting injured a priority but this was a full-on encounter between teams who have long been competitive rivals. Wales were loose in the first match against Ireland in Cardiff at the start of the month, playing from deep and getting caught in possession.
Their approach was different away from home. They kicked in their own half, even when they had space to counterattack, and played in Ireland’s territory. Their two defining pool matches in the World Cup are both at Twickenham, against England and Australia, occasions that will be frill-free. The flanker Justin Tipuric had been an extra back in Cardiff three weeks before but here he played in the manner of the injured Wales captain, Sam Warburton, contesting the breakdown and showing a physical side that has been latent for much of his career.
By getting on top at the breakdown and the scrum, where Tomas Francis made an impact on debut, Wales won the penalty count by a margin of two to one, helping them secure territory as well as points through the boot of Leigh Halfpenny. Ireland, apart from salvos at the beginning and end of each half, were muted as an attacking force having given a number of players an opportunity before the World Cup squad selection.
Jonathan Sexton was playing his first warm-up match and Wales put such pressure on the fly-half that he was largely reduced to chipping into space for his wings. Ireland made no impact with the ball in hand against a defence that was led by the prop Gethin Jenkins who, a few months shy of his 35th birthday, is making no concessions to age.
“The result was not everything, but it will give us confidence,” said Jenkins, who will be appearing in his fourth World Cup having on Saturday become the most capped prop in the world with 120 Tests. “We got a hiding here last year and wanted to put that right. We all know that bigger things are coming up in the next few weeks. The record is nice, but I want to keep going as long as I can.”
Schmidt, like Gatland, was left to wait on injury reports. The wing Keith Earls left the field on a stretcher having been concussed and the centre Luke Fitzgerald followed him off with a knee injury.
Cronin was held up over the line in the last minute to deny the Ireland captain Paul O’Connell a victorious send-off on his final Test appearance in the Irish capital.
The defeat gives their final warm-up match against England at Twickenham on Saturday extra meaning with neither side wanting to go into the World Cup on the back of two successive defeats. Wales’ desire to protect their lead kept Ireland in touch until the end but the lock Iain Henderson was one of the Irish few players to enhance his reputation, scoring their try and putting himself about.
“Coming from the back row, I am a ball-carrier but I need to work on the nitty-gritty stuff and get my head stuck in a few dirtier places,” Henderson said. “It was a disappointing day for us but I hope I did enough to make the World Cup.” He was not the only one.
Ireland R Kearney; D Kearney, Fitzgerald (Ryan, 67), Henshaw, Earls (Jones, 63); Sexton (Jackson, 63), Murray (Reddan, 64); McGrath (Kilcoyne, 60), Strauss (Cronin, 50), White (Furlong, 56), Henderson, O’Connell (capt), O’Mahony (O’Brien, 51), Murphy, Heaslip.
Try Henderson. Con Sexton. Pen Sexton.
Wales Halfpenny; Cuthbert, S Williams, Roberts (Amos, 64), North; Biggar (Priestland, 63), Webb (G Davies, 63); Jenkins (James, 46), Owens (Baldwin, 54), Francis (Jarvis, 53), B Davies (Charteris, 53), AW Jones (King, 72), Lydiate, Tipuric, Faletau.
Try Tipuric. Con Halfpenny. Pens Halfpenny 3.
Referee C Joubert (SA). Attendance 47,430.