Ireland suffer Rugby World Cup exit at the hands of Wales - Rugby News
Ireland’s 2011 Rugby World Cup (RWC) hopes were pinned down as their European rivals, Wales, ended their tournament hopes by defeating in the first quarter-final of the 2011 RWC. Wales handed over a 22 – 10 defeat to Ireland on Saturday, October 9 at Westpac
Stadium, Wellington.
Ireland started the match as the favourites particularly after their shocking victory against the 2011 Tri Nations champions, Wallabies, in their Pool encounter. Ireland qualified for the quarter-final berth from Pool C, while Wales finished behind Springboks
to secure their place in the quarter-finals from pool D.
Wales started the match strongly as they snatched the ball from Ireland to gain early ball possession and get hold of territorial possession. Wales’ left-winger Shane Williams crossed the Irish try line to score their first points, during the 2nd
minute of the game. Wales’ fly half Rhys Priestland followed with the conversion to give Wales an early seven-point lead in the knockout game.
Ireland was able to control the possession of the ball as they slowly started to gain territory. However, they failed to score, as Wales were impressive in their defensive efforts. Ireland were able to register their first points on the board, courtesy of
their fly half Ronan O’Gara’s 23rd minute penalty.
However, Wales were quick to again extend their lead to seven points with their full back Leigh Halfpenny’s 27th minute penalty. In the remaining half of the first half, both teams, tried their best to score points but could not do so as both
teams left the field at the end of the first half, with a scorecard reading 3 – 10 in favour of Wales.
Ireland started the second half aggressively as they overcame their seven point deficit within the first five minutes of the second half. Ireland sent their left-winger, Keith Earls, to score their first try of the game in the 44th minute. O’Gara
followed with his conversion to level the scorecard again at 10 – all.
Wales were impressive with their game plan, ball handling and tackling skills. They were again in the lead courtesy of their scrum half Mike Phillips 50th minute try. Wales failed on the conversion but ensured that they need hand over the ball
and territory possession easily to Ireland.
For Wales their inside centre Jonathan Davies scored their third try of the game during the 63rd minute of the game to take their lead to 10 points. Priestland followed with a subsequent conversion to extend Wales lead to 12 points.
Wales defended well to deny their European rivals from a place in the semi-final of the 2011 RWC as the final scorecard read 22 – 10 in favour of Wales.
Wales captain, Sam Warburton, has praised his side’s defensive effort in their victory over Ireland. In an interview to ITV1, he said, “It was a massive performance, we knew they had a lot of big ball carriers and there was a lot of tackling stopping them
on the gain line because they are dangerous, it was a fantastic defensive effort.”
Ireland’s captain, Brian O’Driscoll, has expressed his disappointment on conceding the game. He acknowledged that his side did not perform at the same level as they performance against Australia and Italy.
Wales will take on France in the semifinal of the 2011 RWC.
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