Women's Six Nations: Ireland cruise to comfortable victory over Wales to solidify third place in table
By Rhys Jones
Published 20/04/2025 at 17:35 GMT+1
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Ireland ran out easy 40-14 winners in south Wales on Sunday to take a comfortable bonus-point win and solidify their spot at third in the table. Playing at Rodney Parade in Newport, Wales opened the scoring but were unable to make more chances pay and were defensively frail in a game played almost entirely in their half, whilst a stunning effort from Ireland's forward pack demolished them.
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Video credit: TNT Sports
Ireland clinched their second win of this year's Women's Six Nations after a dominating 40-14 win over Wales at Rodney Parade on Sunday.
The six-try win could have easily been more had Ireland been more precise in their attack, but with a bonus-point victory in the bag and a trip to Scotland next week, Scott Bemand's side are peaking nicely for this summer's World Cup.
Wales drew first blood just six minutes in as Carys Cox pounced on some poor handling from Amee-Leigh Costigan, who failed to take in a dangerous kick from Lleucu George in front of the try line. A huge hit from Jaz Joyce knocked the ball free and Cox was there to take advantage.
Both sides continued to find chances in a frantic opening 20 minutes as Ireland generated more momentum, but their accuracy let them down.
They finally equalled the score on 20 minutes as Linda Djougang charged through some poor Welsh tackling and touched down.
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From there, the game opened up and the fast pace of the opening stanza left Wales out of breath, and were unable to stop Ireland as number eight Aoife Wafer crashed over from close range.
Ireland fly-half Dannah O'Brien was sent to the sin-bin three minutes before half-time, but that did not stop her side from grabbing a third score soon after through Dorothy Wall, as the power of the pack proved too much for Wales again.
The scoreline only got uglier for Wales 15 minutes into the second half when Ireland scored two tries as both Djougang and Wall added again.
The hosts managed to finally reply in the 59th minute as replacement centre Hannah Bluck scored with what was essentially her first touch of the game.
But Ireland provided an emphatic response just four minutes later when Wafer got her second try of the match, carrying from the back of the scrum and bulldozing her way to the line.
Ireland failed to make several more chances pay in the remainder of the tie, but it was a game played almost entirely in Wales' half, and their defensive weaknesses produced a comfortable win for the visitors in the end.
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