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Wales were crowned Six Nations Grand Slam champions as they demolished Ireland 25-7 in Cardiff to claim European rugby’s glittering double prize.
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The Principality Stadium threatened to lift from its foundations, with Wales making it 14 games unbeaten and giving head coach Warren Gatland a record-breaking Six Nations swansong.
Gatland’s final Six Nations game – he leaves Wales after the World Cup later this year – saw him become the first coach in Five or Six Nations history to win three Grand Slams.
Gareth Anscombe kicked 20 points – six penalties and the conversion of centre Hadleigh Parkes’ second-minute try – to sink Ireland in swirling rain under leaden skies on an afternoon when the visitors insisted the stadium roof remained open.
Ireland were washed away as Wales completed a first Six Nations clean sweep for seven years – a tournament record fourth Grand Slam – and landed their first Six Nations title since 2013, while also climbing above Ireland to second in the official world rankings.
WAL 25-7 IRE
Wales have done it! Capturing the Triple Crown and the Grand Slam in Cardiff with their 14th win on the bounce.
Diweddglo chwedlonol i'r ymgyrch Chwe Gwlad?, wedi ei sefydlu ar waith caled a chyfeillgarwch.
??????? #HWFN #ForTheJersey pic.twitter.com/nA5XgpNLEz
— Welsh Rugby Union ??????? (@WelshRugbyUnion) March 16, 2019
The outcome was never in doubt once Anscombe and Parkes combined to cut Ireland open after just 70 seconds, with the visitors’ only points coming from Jordan Larmour’s 80th-minute touchdown that his fellow replacement Jack Carty converted.
Ireland went into the game with an outside chance of title success, but the final Six Nations game for head coach Joe Schmidt and captain Rory Best will quickly be erased from the memory.
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Wales have now claimed four Grand Slams in 15 seasons – 2005, 2008, 2012 and 2019 – and they will head to the World Cup six months from now as major title contenders.
Wales were unchanged from the side that beat Scotland at Murrayfield last weekend, while Ireland showed three switches as full-back Rob Kearney, flanker Sean O’Brien and lock Tadhg Beirne, who made his Six Nations debut, all started.
The stadium roof was open at Ireland’s request, but with a forecast of gale-force winds it was Wales that blew the game wide open with a brilliant early try.
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Wales’ forwards laid the foundations, driving forcefully from a lineout, but the try owed everything to Anscombe, whose sublime angled kick off the outside off his right boot was caught by Parkes.
The Scarlets centre took his chance superbly, with Anscombe’s conversion making it 7-0, before Parkes then turned defender to pull off a stunning try-saving tackle on Ireland wing Jacob Stockdale.
Wales were then forced into a major reshuffle when wing George North was forced off injured. Dan Biggar replaced him, with Anscombe moving to full-back and Liam Williams switching to wing duties.
Anscombe, though, was not remotely knocked out of his stride and he kicked a penalty from just inside Ireland’s half to put Wales 10-0 ahead after 17 minutes.
It should have arguably been more just three minutes later, but Wales saw a penalty award reversed following a challenge by scrum-half Gareth Davies on Ireland centre Bundee Aki.
Ireland dominated in terms of territory during the third quarter, but they encountered a Wales defence as resilient and defiant as it had been in repelling Scotland seven days ago.
Another Anscombe penalty opened up a 13-point lead as the interval approached and, with the rain pouring down, Ireland appeared more miserable than the weather, being dominated by a title-hungry Wales team.
Anscombe then completed his penalty hat-trick, and Wales trooped off 16-0 ahead, 40 minutes from glory.
He then put the issue beyond doubt with two penalties during the third quarter, before adding another penalty 10 minutes from time and the celebrations could begin after one of Wales’ most dominant displays in recent memory.
It was a day when they rose to the occasion majestically, inspired by a number of world-class individual displays, but none more so than Anscombe’s as he came of age as a Test match performer.
Comments on RugbyPass
Both nations missed a great opportunity to book a game that would have had a lot of interest from around the world. I understand these games can’t be organised in 5 minutes but they should have found a way to make it happen. I don’t think Wales are ducking anyone but it’s a bad look haha.
3 Go to commentsIt will be fascinating to see the effect that Jo Yapp has. If they can compete with Canada and give BFs a run for their money that will be progress
1 Go to commentsFollowing his dream and putting in the work. Go well young fella!
3 Go to commentsPerhaps filling Twickenham is one of Mitchell’s KPIs. I doubt whether both September matches will be at Twickenham on consecutive weekends. I would take the BF one to a large provincial stadium so as not to give them the advantage and experience of playing at Twickenham before a large crowd prior to the RWC.
2 Go to commentsvery unfortunate for Kitshoff, but big opportunity potentially for Nché to prove he is genuinely the best loosehead in the world, rather than just a specialist finisher. Presuming that if Kitshoff is out, it will also give Steenekamp a chance to come into the 23? Or are others likely to be ahead of him?
1 Go to commentsA long held question in popular culture asks if art imitates life or does the latter influence the former? Over this 6 nations I can ask the same question of the media influencing the thoughts of its audience or vice versa. Nobody wants to see cricket scores in rugby, as a spectacle it is not sustainable. With so many articles about England’s procession and lack of competition it feeds the epicaricacy of many looking for an opportunity to pounce. England are not the first team to dominate nor does it happen only in rugby, think Federer, Nadal, Red Bull or Mercedes, Manchester Utd, Australia in tests and World Cups. Instead of celebrating the achievements why find reasons to falsify it pointing towards larger playing pool, professional for a longer period or mitigate with the lack of growth in other nations. Can we not enjoy it while it is here and know that it won’t last for ever, others coveting what England have will soon take the crown, ask the aforementioned?
6 Go to commentsShame he won’t turn out for the Netherlands now they’re improving. U20s are Euro champs and in the U20 Trophy this year. The senior sides gets better every year too.
3 Go to commentsWill rugbypass tv be showing these games?
1 Go to commentsWell where do you start, the fact that England have a professional domestic league and Ireland’s is fully amatuer, that they have fully seperated professional squads at Fifteens and Sevens (7’s thinly disguised as GB), and Ireland have fully pro Sevens squad who loan some players back to the Semi-Professional Fifteens squad (moved from amateur for only a year or so) for a few games at 6N & RWC’s. The Women’s games is a shambles, and is at risk of killing itself by pushing for professionalism when the market isn’t really there to support it outside one or two countnries..
6 Go to commentsWayne Smith's input didn't have as much impact on the last final as Davison's red card for Thompson. England were 14 points up and flying when that happened.
6 Go to commentsBilly's been playing consistently well for 2 - 3 seasons now and deserves a look in at the top level. Ioane and ALB are still first choice but there needs to be injury cover and succession. His partnership with Jordie gives him first dibs you'd think. Go the Hurricanes.
3 Go to commentsIt’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
3 Go to commentsCale certainly looks great in space, but as you say, he has struggled in contact. At 23 years old, turning 24 this year, he should be close to full physical maturity and yet there exists a considerable gap in the power and physicality required for international rugby. Weight doesn’t automatically equate to power and physicality either. Can he go from a player who’s being physically dominated in Super rugby to physically dominating in international rugby in 1 or 2 years? That’s a big ask but he may end up being a late bloomer.
28 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
2 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
3 Go to commentsSad that this was not confirmed. When administrators talk about expanding the game they evidently don’t include pathways to the top tier of rugby for teams outside of the old boys club. Rugby deserves better, and certainly Georgia does.
3 Go to commentsLions might take him on if they move on Van Rooyen but I doubt he will want to go back, might consider it a step backwards for himself. Sharks would take him on but if Plumtree goes on to win the challenge cup they will keep him on. Also sharks showing some promising signs recently. Stormers and Bulls are stable and Springboks are already filled up. Quality coach though, interesting to see where he ends up
1 Go to commentsAnd the person responsible for creating a culture of accountability is?
3 Go to comments