Wales vs. Ireland: Winners and Losers from 2015 Six Nations Clash

Wales ended Ireland’s Grand Slam quest with a 23-16 win in Round 4 of the Six Nations.

The result in Cardiff revived Wales’ own hopes of the title and left the door open for England to also claim the crown this year.

It was a raw-boned, full-blooded clash at the Millennium Stadium with some world class performances and searing intensity that somehow seemed never to relent.

Let’s take a look at the winners and losers from the tournament’s best game yet this year.

For vast periods of the second half, Ireland laid siege to the Welsh try line and simply could not find a way through.

Their try came from a penalty try awarded for Wales collapsing the maul, but all other attempts to cross the whitewash were thwarted by heroic, incredibly organised defence.

The tackling stats, per ESPNScrum show 289 made by the home side to Ireland’s 104.

Heaven only knows how many of those Welsh hits were put in while Ireland spent one passage stringing over 30 phases together in a bid to breach the red wall.

Breach it they could not. Some of the individual tackling figures for Wales also beggar belief.

Skipper Sam Warburton made 30, and his back-row mates Dan Lydiate and Toby Faletau both surpassed 20.

But they were all trumped by Luke Charteris who amassed 37.

The tackling stats show how much possession Ireland had and how well Wales did to keep them out, but the game was decided just as much by the crucial breakdown area.

Peter O’Mahony and Jamie Heaslip were both forced into penalties at the tackle area under pressure from the Welsh defenders that helped the hosts into an early lead.

And in the second half, two vital turnovers at the ruck shaped the course of the game.

Alun-Wyn Jones made the first in the middle of the park that led to a great break by Jonathan Davies and eventually Scott Williams’ try.

And Sam Warburton sealed the deal with a textbook piece of jackal work to win the penalty that put Ireland a converted try away.

Ireland beat England all ends up two weeks ago at the breakdown, but in Cardiff they were second best.

As much as we have already lauded the Welsh defence for keeping Ireland out, you have to point the finger a little at Ireland.

A team with their quality should come away with seven points from a period of play that sees them go through 32 phases of possession. Captain Paul O’Connell told the Irish Independent: "That moment were they held us out and then came down and scored probably played a big part in the game. 

"We needed to score in that period. It would have continued the momentum we had building but they held out and it gave them a massive lift."

It has not been whispered once since the great man retired.

But this result—and particularly the fact that, despite overwhelming dominance of possession and territory, Ireland didn't score—has tentatively raised the question: Would Brian O’Driscoll have made a difference?

The former captain always had a knack of finding his way over the try line either through brilliance or with a bit of short-range ferreting from the base of a ruck.

No one in a green shirt could produce such a moment in Cardiff, and a game plan limited in its creativity could not bring Ireland into a winning position once they had fallen 12 points behind.

Sam Warburton was named official man of the match and deserved huge credit, but his display was just about equalled by another two Lions captains.

Paul O’Connell and Alun-Wyn Jones were immense in their tackling and ball-carrying duties.

All three men put in world-class displays in a game that gave value from first minute to last.