Ireland claimed their first Grand Slam in 61 years in a sensational climax to this year’s Six Nations Championship.

The Irish overturned a 6-0 interval deficit with early second-half tries from Brian O’Driscoll and Tommy Bowe.

But Stephen Jones kicked his third and fourth penalties and appeared to have won the Triple Crown for Wales with a drop-goal with five minutes remaining.

But Ronan O’Gara’s drop-goal regained the lead with two minutes left, and Jones’s last-gasp penalty fell short.

Wales, from being within two minutes of denying Ireland a Grand Slam, but not their first-ever Six Nations title, suddenly had to come to terms with finishing fourth in the championship.

The hosts, needing to win by 13 points to retain their title, planned to target O’Gara from the off, but skipper Ryan Jones set a bad example with a trip on the fly-half in the first minute.
Ireland celebrate historic Grand Slam
Ireland lock Donncha O’Callaghan objected to Jones’s actions and a minor tussle between the players earned an early warning from English referee Wayne Barnes, but O’Gara failed with the long-range penalty attempt.

Ireland responded with a Gordon D’Arcy break only for Gavin Henson’s tackle to thwart Luke Fitzgerald, and a testing O’Gara cross-kick that Shane Williams and Lee Byrne failed to deal with.

The immediate pressure on Wales was relieved when Ian Gough’s challenge knocked the ball out of Jerry Flannery’s hands and Henson sent a huge clearance kick downfield.

But when Wales had their first defensive line-out, the hosts were in danger of cracking as Matthew Rees’s throw could not be cleanly gathered and Shane Williams rescued his side, but was forced to concede a five-metre scrum.

Wales held firm in defence, Mark Jones’s tackle on Ireland captain O’Driscoll forcing him to knock-on in a passage of play that led referee Barnes to warn both captains about off-the-ball incidents.

O’Gara kicked the ball out on the full twice, perhaps indicating the early attention Wales paid to him was paying dividends.

Lock Paul O’Connell led the way as Ireland stole home line-out ball on successive occasions and as both sides belied the occasion to vary their attacking play, that advantage boosted the visitors’ confidence.

The Grand Slam chasers were happy to kick for touch in the belief they could successfully attack Wales’ line-out.

But after Lee Byrne departed with an ankle injury, Henson switching to full-back to accommodate Jamie Roberts, Denis Leamy held on too long in a tackle on Martyn Williams at the back of a line-out and Stephen Jones kicked the 33rd-minute penalty.

Another throw to Williams at the back spelled danger for Wales as the veteran flanker was unable to gather, but Fitzgerald blocked the defence from tackling O’Gara and Jones struck from 49 metres to give Wales a 6-0 lead going into the break.

Ireland began the second half with a Bowe burst down the right from O’Driscoll’s pass and an O’Gara cross-kick that Mark Jones made safe, but failed to mark before he stepped into touch.

 
Ireland celebrate in Cardiff as they win a historic Grand Slam
That gave Ireland the platform and territory their forwards craved and after a series of close-quarter drives, O’Driscoll’s good leg strength and body angle was enough for him to claim the score.

French television match official Romain Poite had to make that decision in the 44th minute, but two minutes later Bowe claimed O’Gara’s chip and raced away from the pursuing Shane Williams to score under the posts.

O’Gara converted both tries for a 14-6 lead, but Wales were soon back in the hunt.

O’Callaghan’s petulant push on Mike Phillips after the scrum-half had knocked on gave fly-half Jones the chance to hit the mark, which he did via an upright.

A timely O’Driscoll tackle on Tom Shanklin helped thwart a Wales attack and Bowe was denied by a knock-on as he won an aerial joust with Ospreys team-mate Williams.

The other aerial battle, at the line-outs, was also going in Ireland’s direction. But Irish composure again failed them to allow Jones to kick a fourth penalty.

Wales coach Warren Gatland attempted to solve his side’s line-out issues by sending Luke Charteris on for Gough and Huw Bennett for hooker Matthew Rees ahead of the final quarter.

A rare long-range Gavin Henson penalty attempt fell short after 68 minutes and Ireland brought on Peter Stringer at scrum-half for O’Leary for the final 10 minutes.

And that is when the drama truly unfolded. For the first time in the game, Wales’ strike runners began to make their mark.

Wing Williams slipped to end one attack, but after Phillips’s thunderous charge through the Welsh defence, Jones dropped the goal that put his side back into the lead.

O’Gara replied moments later after his opposite number kicked out on the full to give Ireland the attacking platform.

Jones had one last chance to redeem the season for Wales, but his effort from just inside the Ireland half fell short and Ireland were at last able to taste Grand Slam champagne.

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Wales: Byrne; M Jones, Shanklin, Henson, S Williams; S Jones, Phillips; Jenkins, Rees, A. Jones, Gough, A Jones, D Jones, M Williams, R Jones (capt).
Replacements: Roberts for Byrne (30), Bennett for Rees (55), Charteris for Gough (55).
Not Used: Yapp, J Thomas, Fury, Hook.

Ireland: Kearney; Bowe, B O’Driscoll, D’Arcy, Fitzgerald; O’Gara, O’Leary; Horan, Flannery, Hayes, O’Callaghan, O’Connell, Ferris, D Wallace, Heaslip.
Replacements: Murphy for Kearney (66), P Wallace for Fitzgerald (76), Stringer for O’Leary (69), Best for Flannery (68), Leamy for Ferris (blood, 7).
Not Used: Court, M O’Driscoll.

Att: 74,625

Coach Warren Gatland says Wales’ players dislike their Irish rivals more than any other team in the Six Nations.

Gatland made his comments ahead of Saturday’s crunch clash in Cardiff in which Ireland bid for the Grand Slam and Wales solely for the championship.

Gatland said: “Probably, out of all the teams in the Six Nations, the Welsh players dislike the Irish the most.

“Players’ experiences against Ireland haven’t always been the greatest, so they are very motivated.”

Gatland had a a 38-Test reign as Ireland coach between 1998 and 2001 and his comments came after he named a team showing eight changes from the line-up that fumbled its way to a 20-15 win against Six Nations wooden-spoon favourites Italy last weekend.

Ireland are on the verge of winning the Grand Slam for the first time since 1948. But Wales could retain the Six Nations trophy if they beat Ireland by 13 points or more.

They last achieved that at Ireland’s expense 26 years ago – while a victory of any description would secure a third Triple Crown in five seasons.

Gatland added: “It’s about winning the game first, win the Triple Crown, deny them the Grand Slam and then see what position we are in.

“There is a lot of pressure and expectation on the Irish team to come to our back-yard and perform.

“After the Scottish game [on Saturday], the Irish players were an hour-and-a-half in the changing room celebrating and singing, so they were clearly happy where they were at.

“It’s how they handle that pressure. There has been expectation on them over a number of years and in a couple of World Cups as well.

“At international level, when there has been that expectation either to perform in Six Nations tournaments or World Cups, they’ve sometimes faltered a little bit.

“It will be interesting to see how [coach] Declan [Kidney] handles that and how the players handle that this week.

“They’ve performed well in this Six Nations, but we’re at home with a massive crowd behind us.

The only real surprise is Powell keeping his place but perhaps his physical approach is what’s needed against the irish

the magnificent sevens
“We’ve got to really concentrate on ourselves and put them under as much pressure as we can.”

Reflecting on events in the Eternal City, Gatland said: “I’ve been criticised for the number of changes I made, and in hindsight maybe we made too many changes.

“I am not afraid to put my hand up and say maybe it was the wrong decision. Tactically, we got some things wrong against Italy.

“We feel we haven’t played as well as we could have done in this Six Nations and we want to address that.

“To win the title again would be a massive achievement. If we play to our potential on Saturday, we are capable of winning and winning well.”

He added: “With a healthy head-start, you have to say Ireland are probably favourites to take the title.

“But we are confident we can come up with a win – and who knows what will happen if we can get ourselves ahead in the game and that Millennium Stadium factor begins to kick in?”

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Wales: Lee Byrne; Mark Jones, Tom Shanklin, Gavin Henson, Shane Williams; Stephen Jones, Mike Phillips; Gethin Jenkins, Matthew Rees, Adam Jones, Ian Gough, Alun-Wyn Jones, Ryan Jones (capt), Martyn Williams, Andy Powell.
Replacements: Huw Bennett, John Yapp, Luke Charteris, Dafydd Jones, Warren Fury, James Hook, Jamie Roberts.

Ireland: Rob Kearney; Tommy Bowe, Brian O’Driscoll (capt), Gordon D’Arcy, Luke Fitzgerald; Ronan O’Gara, Tomas O’Leary; Marcus Horan, Jerry Flannery, John Hayes, Donncha O’Callaghan, Paul O’Connell (capt), Stephen) Ferris, David Wallace, Jamie Heaslip.
Replacements: Rory Best, Tom Court, M O’Driscoll, Denis Leamy, Peter Stringer, Paul Wallace, Geordan Murphy.

Ireland recovered from a slow start to claim a magnificent win over a battling France side in a thrilling RBS Six Nations opener at Croke Park.

Imanol Harinordoquy’s early score helped France into a 7-3 lead but Tommy Bowe’s break set up a Jamie Heaslip try which turned the game Ireland’s way.

Leading 13-10 at the break, Brian O’Driscoll’s try extended Ireland’s lead only for Maxime Medard to reply.

But Gordon D’Arcy’s late try finally broke French resolve.

After the earlier lacklustre encounter at Twickenham, this contest lit up the Six Nations and the 80,000 plus crowd in Dublin as Ireland claimed their first win in seven attempts against the French.

O’Gara struck Ireland ahead with a third-minute penalty but France quickly regrouped to put the home side under pressure.

France’s gameplan was clear. They were determined to run at the opposition defence and the Irish were rescued in the seventh minute when Thierry Dusautoir knocked on just short of the line.

More French attacks followed but desperate Irish defence, and a couple of impressive catches by Rob Kearney, kept the visitors at bay.

But the French got their reward as another typically sweeping move was finished off by the recalled Harinordoquy in the 14th minute, although there was a hint of a forward pass by Julien Malzieu.

Beauxis added the conversion to put France 7-3 ahead.

O’Gara’s penalty, straight after the restart, left only a point between the teams but France were controlling the game with the Irish living off scraps.

A tight forward drive into French territory yielded a chance to gave the Irish an undeserved lead in the 31st minute but O’Gara was off-target from 45 metres.

But Ireland were suddenly ahead on 34 minutes as Bowe’s break put the French defence on the backfoot.

Paul O’Connell’s quick pass kept the move going and the impressive Heaslip weaved his way past two challenges to charge over the French line.

O’Gara’s conversion increased Ireland’s lead to 13-7 as the home side held the initiative for the first time in the match.

If the French were rattled, they weren’t showing it and a Sebastien Chabal charge had the Irish defence backpedalling a minute later.

On the stroke of half-time, Lionel Beauxis struck a drop-goal which cut the Irish lead to three points at the break.

The first score after the break went to the Irish as O’Driscoll brushed past Beauxis’ poor tackle to score the kind of try which was been missing from the Irish captain’s armoury in recent times.

O’Gara’s conversion extended the Irish lead to 20-10 as the home side appeared to have seized the initiative.

But once again, French responded as Harinordoquy pounced on some scrappy Irish play to set up an attack finished off by Medard’s try.

The French winger touched down after getting the luck of the bounce from Beauxis’ chip over the home defence.

Beauxis missed the conversion but his second drop-goal of the day cut Ireland’s lead to 20-18.

But just as the match threatened to slip away from Irish, they responded to strike the decisive blow.

A forwards drive saw the home side move deep into French territory and the attack was finished off by replacement D’Arcy sniping his way over the line to celebrate his return to the international stage.

O’Gara’s conversion extended Ireland’s lead to 27-18 but there was only a score between the teams when Beauxis landed a penalty four minutes from time.

At that stage, memories of Vincent Clerc’s late try two years ago loomed large for Irish fans but O’Gara’s immediate penalty eased home nerves.

Ireland: Kearney; Bowe, B O’Driscoll (capt), P Wallace, Fitzgerald; O’Gara, O’Leary; Horan, Flannery, Hayes, O’Callaghan, O’Connell, Ferris, D Wallace, Heaslip.
Replacements: R Best for Flannery (49), Court, O’Kelly, Leamy, Stringer, D’Arcy for Wallace (63)
Not Used: Court, O’Kelly, Leamy, Stringer, Murphy.

France: Poitrenaud; Malzieu, Fritz, Jauzion, Medard; Beauxis, Tillous-Borde; Faure, Szarzewski, Lecouls, Chabal, Nallet; Dusautoir, Ouedraogo, Harinordoquy.
Replacements: Kayser for Szarzewski (58), Mas for Lecouls (40), Millo-Chluski for Chabal (62), Picamoles for Harinordoquy (71), Parra for Tillous-Borde (68)
Not Used:Baby, Heymans.

Att: 82,000

Referee: N Owens (Wales)

The Irish Rugby Football Union’s review into Ireland’s dismal World Cup campaign will be presented to the union’s executive committee on Monday.

Brian Porteous of the Genesis consultants group was commissioned to conduct the review.

His work included interviewing the Irish management and players.

Ireland went into the World Cup with high hopes but after struggling to beat Namibia and Georgia, defeats by France and Argentina ended their campaign.

Irrespective of what the review says, head coach Eddie O’Sullivan is likely to remain in his job. However, a poor Six Nations campaign will put more pressure on him to step down.

The review could suggest some internal changes which the IRFU may take on board. The re-appointment of a team manager to take some of the pressure of the coach, is one option that is certain to be considered.

Former Ireland centre and Munster stalwart Brian O’Brien stepped down from that post two seasons ago and his role as advisor and father figure to the players, and as a deflection shield from the media, was missed.

Current Ireland A manager Joe Miles, who is a former chairman of old Ireland selection panel, would be a strong candidate to step into any new role that is created by the IRFU when the considser the review, the results of which are unokely to be made public.

Irish rugby chief Philip Browne has raised doubts over the future of Ireland coach Eddie O’Sullivan following a poor World Cup. Browne said last week the four-year contract given to O’Sullivan before the World Cup would be honoured.

But on Wednesday the mood changed when he said “we will not be held to ransom by contracts or anything else”.

Browne added the IRFU may seek outside consultants to carry out a review of Ireland’s pool-stage exit.

He said: “I think we must sit down in the cold light of day and once the dust has settled actually do a professional review of the team logistics, medical fitness, players and coaching staff and the administration. We will make an assessment then.”

Browne said the IRFU would not be rushed into any decision regarding O’Sullivan and defended Ireland’s preparations going into the competition.

“It has been a huge disappointment not only for the public but also for the IRFU,” he added. “But we put a lot of time, effort and money into the team, the coaching staff put in a lot of time and effort and the players put a lot of time and effort into the whole set up.”

Speaking last week on RTE, Ireland’s national broadcaster, Browne was asked if O’Sullivan’s four-year deal would be honoured.

“Absolutely,” said Browne. “We have put our faith in Eddie. We made decisions last May in terms of where we wanted to go over the next four years.

“We’re happy with that decision. In our view he’s the best man for the job.”