Ireland vs Wales result: Joe Schmidt’s side win Rugby World Cup warm-up match in Dublin
The two met in the final Rugby World Cup warm-up match in Dublin
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Your support makes all the difference.Ireland will top the world rankings ahead of the Rugby World Cup after a 19-10 win over Wales in Dublin.
It wasn't all good news though and they will sweat a possible knee injury for wing Keith Earls, amid a confidence-boosting victory where Rob Kearney, Tadhg Furlong and James Ryan all bagged tries.
Head coach Joe Schmidt and captain Rory Best will relinquish their roles after the World Cup, and both claimed the Aviva Stadium sign-off they so craved.
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29 minutes
Wales pre-engage and Ireland take the tap quickly, but Sexton again goes to boot, rather ineffectively pushing the ball diagonally towards the left wing and Halfpenny can this time watch the ball hop and skip out of play.
Gareth Davies box kicks to touch after the ball is effectively brought down from the lineout, and Ireland will go again from a lineout near halfway.
30 minutes
Interception!
Dan Biggar reads Sexton's mind and jumps into the passing lane, grabbing the ball with one arm and sprinting away.
But he's hauled down just short of the line, and Rob Kearney might have got under the ball as Biggar looked to place...
He did! Remarkable defensive work from Kearney and Robbie Henshaw, who somehow got back and hauled Biggar down just short of the line to allow Kearney the opportunity to latch on to the ball and prevent the score.
Fair play to Biggar, too, for confirming he didn't get the ball down to the referee and saving a TMO check.
Still, Wales have a five-metre scrum.
TRY! What a line from Hadleigh Parkes!
Wales's initial bursts after the scrum are repelled but two carries from the forwards take them to a metre out, and Tomos Williams settles at the base of the ruck.
He has four or five would-be runners in close proximity but Parkes has come from deep and wide, some 10 metres in all from the ruck as he begins a diagonal charge, against the grain and finding the hole between Bundee Aki and Robbie Henshaw. Williams finds him in stride and Parkes crashes over. A simply unstoppable running line.
Ireland 7-10 Wales, 32 minutes
35 minutes
Both sides lose possession in midfield, and Dan Biggar and Rob Kearney exchange kicks, the latter more effectively so, and Wales will have a lineout just short of their own ten-metre line.
36 minutes
Jean Kleyn is again blown up for a penalty, in at the side as Wales look to set up a maul. Dan Biggar pumps into the Irish half,
37 minutes
George North makes good metres down the right wing before Bundee Aki's shoulder crumples the Welshman, and another good shot, this time from Cian Healy, further slows the visitors' charge.
Wales reset and throw the ball wide, Justin Tipuric with chalk on his boots and nearly slipping through the tackle of Jordan Larmour.
But Elliot Dee forces an offload, Hadleigh Parkes can't collect it keenly, and Ireland will have the scrum. A shame for Wales, that, for they had shown some patience and the gaps were just starting to open. Dee should probably have just taken the tackle and allowed his team to reload. Parkes was certainly looking more to hit a ruck than take an out-the-back-door offload.
39 minutes
Josh van der Flier finds a sliver of space as Ireland swing the ball left and then right, and the openside flanker hares down the right wing, flipping the ball up for Jordan Larmour as Ireland make 30 metres.
40 minutes
But Ireland are pushed further and further back, not aided by a couple of haphazard passes, and Johnny Sexton is utterly thumped by Jonathan Davies as the Wales 13 reads the attempted play perfectly.
Sexton is held up, Mathieu Raynal blows and off the players jog. Half-time.
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