Ireland's Stephen Ferris trudges from the Aviva Stadium field having been yellow-carded
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The Irish Independent's Hugh Farrelly picks through the pieces of Ireland's latest reverse at the hands of Wales.
"When you throw in last year's illegal winning score by Mike Phillips in Cardiff (not to mention Wales' voodoo-like depowering of Ireland in the Wellington quarter-final) you could justifiably claim that Wales' hex over the Irish has assumed Biddy Early proportions. But the bottom line is that Wales were allowed to score three tries that were all eminently preventable.
"There is no case for the defence. True, Wales had a leviathan backline on show that would have done justice to most packs, but missing front-up tackles at this level is unacceptable and, following on from the soft scores conceded in Wellington, it can be categorically concluded that Ireland's defensive game has regressed hugely from the miserly operation which underpinned their Grand Slam in 2009.
"When you are faced with a backline carrying as much power and menace as Wales', it is essential that you close down their time on the ball, but Ireland's line-speed was non-existent and there were no shooters to get in Welsh faces."
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