“Dai Hard” they called it as they left the stadium. And it had some resonance. One Irish journalist had told us in the interminable build-up that this was “a foregone conclusion”. A former celebrated Irish player wondered if Wales should actually be relegated because of their woeful run.
There was no chance in hell that the home side could actually challenge the team chasing a record three consecutive Six Nations titles. No matter how much fire the Dragons managed to muster.
Well, guess what? It was all a load of utter Blarney.
At the end, the Irish players should have barked in the faces of these all-knowing sages and told them the past fortnight has been pathetic and not at all what rugby in their country is about.
Yes, they will say it was but the banter of a silly podcast. But no, we are not talking about those click-baiting morons who declared that Ireland could even win with 12 men. Instead, some of them were the experts who really should know better.
Fair enough, Ireland prevailed in Cardiff for the second time in the last six Six Nations encounters at the best stadium in rugby. Bully for them. Without a referee who clearly bottled a decision that almost criminally did not see Garry Ringrose sent off for good, the result not only could, but obviously would, have been different.
It is now the Pontius Pilate act of rugby officialdom. By any reasonable assessment of the videotape he viewed on the same screen which Taylor Swift and Bruce Springsteen have recently appeared, Christophe Ridley did not have to wash his hands – he merely had to cross them, telling the officials upstairs that, if they wished, they could upgrade the ridiculous flying butt on Ben Thomas from a yellow to a red.
But not a proper red. No. This just means the sanction would be 20 minutes instead of 10. By the way, this is a sport that claims it is doing everything in its power to diminish the risk of head injuries. Even the official line was that there “was no mitigation”.
But for that, it would have been the shock of the Six Nations and the servings of humble and leek pie would have been plentiful. But it was not a day to slaver on hubris. If anything, this thrilling afternoon under the roof with a crowd of 74,000 did not so much remind of the dangers of writing off Wales, but of besmirching the very competition itself.
The Six Nations has been too fond of drama to allow for contemptuous discord. This was Wales and this was on the same turf of the Arms Park where legends had been formed and some of them actually arrived daring to suggest Wales should no longer be a part of a Championship that more than any other nation, they have forged to be mystical.
The Six Nations stood up for itself in this early kick-off. Wales were reborn under the temporary coaching of Matt Sherratt, although in truth the previous corpse had barely been lying still for that long. After an extraordinary tenure – in which he presided over three Grands Slams, more than any other coach in 143 years – Warren Gatland returned to supposed disarray in 2023.
But less than two years before, under Wayne Pivac, Wales had won the Six Nations. Things happen quickly in this country of roughly three million people and belief can be inspired in a few beats of Jac Morgan’s limitless heart.
Gatland was wrong. Gareth Anscombe should have been his outside-half for this Championship, and Thomas is obviously a brilliant inside centre. Max Llewellyn – the No 13 who, like Anscombe is another Gloucester high performer who was bizarrely discarded – could have been man of the match. And Tommy Reffell, in whatever back-row combination, should never be dropped again.
Yet, in essence, these were the same Gatland moves from the forwards inspired by the evergreen Taulupe Faletau. But the backs were more adventurous, though largely because of the poise of Kingsholm double-act Tomos Williams and Anscombe. What Sherratt brought was essentially the change in mindset and the allowance of freedom.
So, it took a former primary teacher from Gloucestershire to make the Welsh look Welsh again. If the man on a job share with Cardiff Rugby now leads the team to victories against Scotland and England – which seems ever so slightly more possible than it did before – then the coach nicknamed Jockey might never be allowed to dismount a cause that so often before seemed irresistible.
