You can tell there’s a World Cup on next year: Ireland are hitting their peak. Still, this was an ominous statement of intent by Andy Farrell’s side at a blustery and bellicose Aviva Stadium: standards set, gauntlets thrown down.
The trip to Paris already feels like the potential crux of this tournament, which feels like a faintly ridiculous statement to make after 80 minutes of play. But for Ireland and their long-agonising supporters, it may just be time to start believing the hype. It was a measure of Ireland’s dominance that a normally edgy crowd had begun to relax well before the end.
Ten minutes from time the Mexican waves were already swooping around the stadium and a little air had drained from the place.
At which point, as if to chide Ireland for their contentment, Taine Basham promptly pilfered a late try after a rare moment of slackness from Tadhg Beirne. Still, the magnificent Beirne had more than earned his little late siesta, and in a way so had Ireland.
Certainly you might argue that the scoreline flattered the losers, not the victors. Ireland could have put the game to bed within 20 minutes, but even without the points their supremacy deserved, the way they made Wales suffer during that opening quarter would tell later on.
It was a great day for Bundee Aki and Garry Ringrose at centre, for Ronan Kelleher and Tadhg Furlong in the front row, for Andrew Conway and his two tries, for Jack Conan who won a crucial breakdown penalty late in the first half just as Wales were threatening to strike back.
Indeed, pretty much the only Irishman who was not enjoying himself was Rob Baloucoune: left out in favour of Mack Hansen, and now forced to watch the debutant rip up the defending Six Nations champions.
Doubtless the talented Baloucoune will get a chance to add to his two Ireland caps before long. But here it was Hansen who seized his chance and seized the moment, earning the man-of-the-match award (probably out of sentiment as much as anything else) and almost certainly an extended run in the side. He made 94 metres, more than anyone else, two clean breaks and the sumptuous assist for Aki’s early try.
But more important than the raw numbers was the spirit of enterprise, the sense of invention, an approach in ideal harmony with Farrell-ball and its preference for scruffy, virtuoso creativity.
Farrell likes his wings to play “untidy”, to come in off the flank and start directing unstructured play in more central areas. Hansen fits this brief perfectly: according to Andy Friend, Hansen’s coach at Connacht, his preferred position is at full-back or fly-half. Now it was Hansen flinging the ball from midfield to Aki plunging over in the corner: a kind of Total Farrell.
Like all the best debuts, it owed itself to a tiny stroke of fortune. It came with barely a minute on the clock. Deep in his own territory, Jonny Sexton tried a little bunt-kick to try to get Ireland going. Only it bounced off Josh Adams, making his first start at centre for Wales. In that moment, perhaps, the entire fate of the game might have turned. The ricochet could have gone anywhere. It could have bounced up into Adams’s hands, from which he might have had an easy score and doubtless a much easier afternoon. Instead, it looped to Hansen, whose first act in senior international rugby was thus to sprint 60 yards up the wing and bring the crowd to their feet.
Would Ireland still have won? Yes, probably. But it was instructive and perhaps a little poignant to see how wildly the fates of Hansen and Adams – the two big selection calls for this game – would diverge from that moment on. Hansen set up the early score, was at the heart of Ireland’s attacking engine, helped to create Conway’s crucial third try by selling Dan Biggar an empty pair of arms and taking him out of the game.
Meanwhile, Adams would find himself badly exposed for Ireland’s second try, gave away a soft penalty in the build-up to the third and was then put in the sin bin for a brainless shoulder charge on Sexton.
You can always tell a well-oiled team from how smoothly it accommodates newcomers or players in new roles. In this respect Ireland look brilliantly drilled: aggressive in defence and maverick in attack, a team where everyone knows their role and new players can hit the ground running, but still has room for growth.
For Wales, it is not yet the time for introspection and obsequies. Lose to Scotland next week, however, and the vultures may just start to circle.
