Ireland v Wales | Talking points as Aoife Wafer proves to be point of difference

Ireland worked past a stubborn Welsh resistance to secure a bonus-point win in Belfast, keeping them on track for three home wins in this year’s Women’s Six Nations.

With Scotland to come to the Aviva Stadium next Sunday, Scott Bemand’s side remain on course for a third-placed finish behind France and England after taking care of business on Saturday.

Wales frustrated Ireland for much of the first half, while there may be some debate on the nature of cards given, or not given, to Irish players.

Regardless, Aoife Wafer once again was a dominant force, and Ireland remained patient enough to open up a sizeable second-half lead to win their third consecutive match against their Welsh rivals.

Here are today’s talking points.

Wafer the difference 

There’s no questioning Aoife Wafer’s credentials. Ireland’s most dominant carrier and an excellent defensive breakdown operator, she is a genuine point of difference.

If you wanted to quibble over one area, though, it would be her handling. Wafer’s first instinct is to look for contact, to use the defender as nothing but a speed bump on her way over the gainline. More often than not, this doesn’t lead to a pass or offload to send a teammate into space.

Defences, therefore, can gameplan. To a point. If you limit Wafer’s damage, as opposed stop it completely, you can contain things.

Not this time around. With Wales proving a difficult opponent to shrug off, Wafer’s handling brilliance got Ireland ahead in a difficult first half. Picking off the back of a scrum, she sucked in three defenders before offloading one-handed to Beibhinn Parsons. Ireland took a lead they would not relinquish.

Yes, her knee might have been on the ground, meaning a tackle was completed and Wafer played the ball on the floor. That should not take away from the excellence of the skill, though, Ireland’s number eight showing another attacking strength that, if it becomes prevalent, would see her develop into a complete player.

We still had the trademark moments elsewhere. Two tries with a powerful close range finish. A vital breakdown poach while Ireland were down to 14. A line break from deep that forced Wales into conceding a card of their own.

Wafer is already a regular standout for Ireland. If that offloading and distribution game becomes a regular feature, good luck to everyone else.

Wales front up – to a point

You get the sense that Ireland’s game part, at least in part, focused on a desire to run over the top of Wales. They backed their forwards in particular to bring a physical edge that would open things up. That didn’t exactly happen to plan. Well, not consistently.

In the first half, Wales frustrated Ireland’s attack, winning three breakdown turnovers with props Sisilia Tuipulotu and Gwenllian Pyrs getting in on the act. When on the ball, their own attacking rucking was excellent, limiting Ireland’s ability to get in and steal the ball.

After 20 minutes, the teams had made virtually the same number of carries but Wales earned 30 more metres in contact. Add in a handful of Welsh scrum penalties to boot. They were up for this.

Their first half try that levelled the game came largely thanks to a powerful Jorja Aiono carry off the back of a lineout. She ran over the top of Wafer, no less.

Ultimately, Wales couldn’t make the parity last. Wafer’s second try that stretched Ireland’s lead to 19 points came from forward dominance. Linda Djougang was excellent in that passage.

Regardless, Wales will be proud of how they went up against Ireland’s pack and frustrated them for as long as they did.

Cards

This game wasn’t quite defined by refereeing decisions – you would have backed Ireland even if they didn’t get the slice of luck that came there way. Still, Wales might have some reason to feel aggrieved.

In the first half, Erin King was involved in a big collision where she looked to be upright. Wales asked if the TMO checked a head-on-head contact. Replays were not shown to the public, but the officials were happy there was no head contact, to the point where Wales captain Beth Lewis thanked the referee for checking.

In the second half, a card did come when Cliodhna Moloney-MacDonald kicked out at Georgia Evans.

Now, there was a pair of them at it, Evans cynically holding onto Moloney-MacDonald in a different postcode to the ruck. But by lashing out in the way that she did, the Irish hooker was taking a risk.

If inclined to judge the strike, it was a weak one, Moloney-MacDonald not making strong contact. It looked more like an effort to shake her off than to do damage, but there was a sweeping motion made with the kick. A less charitable referee may have interpreted it as a clear, cynical act of foul play and brandished a red, instead of yellow card.

Ireland managed to get 15 players back on the pitch, dealing with the card well. This was thanks in part to Jasmine Joyce’s yellow for cynical play after a Wafer line break. Once back to their full complement, Ireland killed the game off. On another day, they could have spent longer down to 14.