Also impressive that we pulled out a performance like that in spite of another indifferent outing by the half-backs, particularly Murray who was pretty poor again - Sexton looked a little fitter, and showed some flashes. But it was the pack who made the difference - the front 5 were all class, Stander had an absolutely great game, one of his best in a while, and I thought the forward subs all played well as well.
I think on that form we should be beating Wales pretty comfortably - it might be a bit churlish to say this about a side who hasn't lost yet (and who beat England pretty well!) but they've only really looked impressive for one half (second half versus Eng), the rest of the time they've been bitty and error-prone, even against France in the second half they didn't play especially well France just absolutely blew their own nuts off.. twice..
but the big problem for Ireland is inefficiency - I saw on twitter stats from 27 mins, Ireland basically 90% possession and territory (I think something like 50% in the French 22) - and the score? 7-0... If NZ or England have those stats they'll be 25-20 points ahead.. And Wales big strength is their defence, it's why they win matches - it keeps them in games where they're struggling, and then when they inevitably get some possession they're pretty good at taking a couple of opportunities. Our game last year was a good example, we crushed them for 50 minutes, but didn't really put them away until the intercept at the end (admittedly thanks in large part to McFadden and his much-vaunted dependability in defence
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