Ireland have beaten Wales 32-9 at the Aviva stadium in a comfortable victory, earning their first win in the Autumn Nations Cup.
Before the game, Ireland head coach Andy Farrell was forced into a couple of late changes.
Iain Henderson and Jacob Stockdale both pulled out and were replaced by Quinn Roux and Andrew Conway. Hugo Keenan was moved to full-back.
Ireland dominated for large spells in the first half but at crucial moments failed to convert it into tries.
Cian Healy came close to powering over, but he was held up on the line. After an earlier penalty from Johnny Sexton, Quinn Roux managed to cross over the line after a sustained period of Irish pressure.
Another penalty from Sexton made it 13-3 as Ireland were dominating the Welsh side at scrum time.
The Leinster fly half was forced to come off late in first half which meant Billy Burns made his debut.
Wales came out in the second half with renewed vigour and got a penalty early on which made it 16-6.
Once again, in the second half Ireland had some really impressive passages of play with Jamison Gibson Park at the helm, but they failed to get over the line.
Two penalties from Billy Burns made it 19-9, but he had to come off to receive a head injury assessment (HIA) which meant Connor Murray came on to play as fly half.
Murray stretched Ireland's lead once again making it 22-9 after penalty, and he added another a few minutes later making it 25-9.
The home side continued to push for a late try to cap things off but on a number of occasions they either knocked it on or Wales turned it over at the breakdown.
Ireland managed to gain a scrum close to the Welsh try line with the clock etching towards 80 minutes. Man of the match Caelen Doris scooped the ball up from the base of the scrum and set up debutant James Lowe who crashed over the line.
Murray converted once again to finish the game off 32-9.
Ireland will travel to Twickenham next week to take on England in their second Autumn Nations Cup tie.
Full Time Score: Ireland 32-9 Wales #ShoulderToShoulder #AutumnNationsCup #GuinnessSeries #IREvWAL pic.twitter.com/oWb8YGDX2R
— Irish Rugby (@IrishRugby) November 13, 2020
