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Welsh fell to their sixth straight loss on Friday when Ireland ran out of convincing the winners 32-9 in their first Fall Nations Cup clash at Lansdowne Road.
New Zealand-born Irish Test rookie James Lowe capped off an impressive performance by scoring the home team’s final try in the closing seconds of a largely closed-door match in Dublin.
Defeat will put pressure on Wales coach Wayne Pivac, who replaced Warren Gatland after the World Cup last year with the 2019 Welsh Six Nations Grand Slam champions.
Although Johnny Sexton scored eight points to make him Ireland’s top scorer against the Welshman, his 100th appearance in the test ended early when he limped on his leg.
The coronavirus had overshadowed the tournament earlier in the day with the cancellation of Sunday’s match between France and Fiji due to an outbreak of the virus in the Fiji camp.
Sexton opened the scoring with a penalty in the 11th minute.
The hosts had the Welshman under immense pressure, especially in the set scrum, but the visitors managed to keep them out with Irish blocking James Ryan being penalized as he tried to force his way.
The Irish normally pride themselves on their discipline, but referee Mathieu Raynal was not very impressed and sanctioned them regularly.
Leigh Halfpenny took advantage of an Irish indiscretion to equalize the score in the 18th minute.
However, the Irishman finally seized the opportunity to score a try when Quinn Roux, who had only been drafted into the starting lineup on Friday after Iain Henderson was declared unfit, moved on to his third try for his country.
Sexton converted for 10-3 and added another penalty shortly afterwards for 13-3 about half an hour into the game.
That was the 35-year-old playmaker’s last contribution when he limped with a grimace and was replaced by rookie Billy Burns, whose brother Freddie played five times for England.
Halfpenny cut the deficit with a long-range penalty, but Burns restored the 10-point lead with one of his own after Welsh prop Rhys Carre was once again penalized at the scrum.
Carre came out of his agony when Wayne Pivac hooked him with a minute remaining in the first half before a crucial five-meter scrum at 22 Wales.
The Welshman successfully overcame it and fell behind by just 10 at halftime.
Halfpenny added a penalty in the 10th minute of the second half for 16-9, the Irish started the half weak.
The hosts rallied and parked on the Welsh 22, but first Taulupe Faletau and then a loss prevented possible attempts.
They weren’t totally empty-handed as Burns added a 19-9 penalty.
The Irishman lost Burns just after the scheduled time when he was hit and his replacement, Conor Murray, scored a penalty to bring one more relieved smile to the observer Sexton’s lips.
Murray added another penalty shortly after when the game turned away from the Welshman.
The coup de grace was delivered on the bell when Lowe crashed from a short-range scrum move, Murray converted to give the Irish their 19th victory in their last 20 home events.
