Ireland end Wales' winning streak in Six Nations with 24-14 victory

Ireland 24-14 Wales, Aviva Stadium
Scorecard

Ireland maintained their winning start in the ongoing Six Nations tournament as they defeated Wales 24-14 in the second round of the tournament at Aviva Stadium on Saturday.

The defeat also ends Wales' hope of repeating their Grand Slam performance that they achieved last year while Ireland now claim the top spot in the table with nine points.

Ireland made two changes leading to the game with Robbie Henshaw and Peter O’Mahony coming in while CJ Stander moved to number eight replacing injured Caelan Doris. Meanwhile, Wales handed first start to Saracens centre Nick Tompkins allowing George North to move to wing.

Both the teams were desperate to get their first points on the board and as a result the first quarter almost went without a point before the hosts struck through Jordan Larmour as he went past Tompkins for the opening try. Johnny Sexton's conversion went wide as Ireland had a 5-0 lead.

Wales suffered a setback with an inform Josh Adams limping off the field and was replaced by Johnny McNicholl in the 25th minute but they soon claimed the lead with Dan Biggar setting up Tomos Williams over the line in the 27th minute and the fly-half kicked the conversion to make it 5-7.

A spill from Williams allowed Ireland to comeback into the game allowing Tadhg Furlong to dot down at the back of an attacking scrum in the 32nd minute before Sexton's conversion made the scoreline 12-7 heading into the break.

Ireland maintained their momentum into the second half as they got their third try through Josh Van der Flier in the 47th minute that was improved by Sexton taking the lead of Andy Farrell's men to 19-7. The visitors thought they reduced the deficit few minutes later but Hadleigh Parkes' try was disallowed after replays showed he lost control of the ball while touching down.

Wales' hopes dashed further when Andrew Conway crossed the whitewash with five minutes left in the game that helped Ireland claim the bonus point before Justin Tipuric scored a consolation try in the final minute for Wayne Pivac's side to reduce their losing margin to 10 points.

Wales will host France next at Principality Stadium on 22nd February while Ireland will lock horns with England at Twickenham Stadium on 23rd February.