After opening round wins over England and Scotland, Ireland travelled to Cardiff to take on Wales. Our live match centre [below] has you covered for all the big moments, best scores, reactions and full Ireland player ratings.
Ireland kicked off their 2025 Six Nations campaign with a superb win over Steve Borthwick's side before making it 11 straight wins over the Scots.
Simon Easterby made seven changes to his starting XV for the Wales game, with Dan Sheehan named as captain. It was a tight affair, but Ireland rebounded from a half-time deficit to win 27-18.
IRELAND PLAYER RATINGS
Jamie Osborne - 7
Spilled his first aerial take attempt, but made up for it on the next attempt. Botched what should have been a simple try-scoring chance for Ringrose. Stayed alive for his second half try. Teamed up with Hansen to prevent a late try.
Mack Hansen - 6
Will be under pressure from Calvin Nash for that 14 jersey, for the France game. Rushed out of the line to try force Welsh errors as they went wide. Held up by Blair Murray, over the tryline. Couple of good kick-chases. Teamed up with Osborne for a try-saving tackle.
Garry Ringrose - 3
Did little in attack but stuck all six of his tackles. Unfortunately, one of them was too high on Thomas and he copped a 20-minute red card.
Robbie Henshaw - 7
Came up with a big penalty turnover win, as the 20-minute red card clock ticked down. Gave it socks, and delivered some front-foot ball.
James Lowe - 7
His big left boot was in full effect in the first half. Could not prevent Rogers from scoring. Great awareness to bat the ball down for Osborne's try. Great aerial take and kick up the line, in the final quarter.
Sam Prendergast - 6
Cruised through the opening 20 minutes, but was not the only one rattled by the Welsh thunder. Fell off a couple of tackles, was flattened by Jac Morgan on a carry and missed a first half penalty. Gem of a 50:22 kick, on 55 minutes. Then landed a clutch penalty from just inside the Welsh half. Erred with a kick out, on the full, to put his team under pressure.
Jamison Gibson-Park - 9
Ireland's best player, yet again. Kept Ireland ticking over when they were up against it, with some snipes, quick-taps and smart kicking. Won a vital turnover and pumped one to the corner, on penalty advantage, which resulted in the Osborne try.
Andrew Porter - 7
Scrum was up against it, all afternoon. Was outstanding in the loose, scragging down men in red and getting stuck into the breakdown.
Dan Sheehan - 6
Forced into a knock-on when tackled low, just outside his 22. Stuck all 11 tackles.
Thomas Clarkson - 5
Scrum had a tough start but he won the penalty that made it 10-0.
Tadhg Beirne - 7
Got little change on his carries. A nuisance to Wales in the lineout. Solid on restarts, even when horizontal. Big turnover at the end. Won another penalty pop for Prendergast, after that.
Joe McCarthy - 6
Excellent carry to make inroads before Conan's try. Flattened Anscombe on one carry. Looked to have won a big turnover, but was then pinged for tackling Faletau in the air.
Peter O'Mahony - 7
Knew he was in a war today. Wales started two opensides, in Morgan and Reffell, and they did well to slow Irish ball. O'Mahony had a couple of strong carries and tackled his arse off.
Josh van der Flier - 7
Pitched into a dog-fight and needed all his wits just to tread water. His counter-ruck forced the late penalty that won the game.
Jack Conan - 7
Powered over for the early try. Won a turnover for his side. Was Ireland's best source of go-forward ball and top tackler (10) before he pulled up with an injury.
REPLACEMENTS
Ryan Baird (for Conan '43) - 6
Strong, early carries when he came in. Pinged for a neck-roll tackle on Rogers. Added much-needed physicality.
Finlay Bealham (for Clarkson '49) - 8
Scrum looked more solid when he arrived.
Bundee Aki (Red Card sub '50) - 7
How Ireland needed him, when he launched from the bench. Was straight into it, and had his nose mushed.
James Ryan (for McCarthy '64) - 7
Was solid as a rock for his side, in two stints.
Jack Boyle (for Porter '69) - 7
His first scrum saw Wales moshed.
Jack Crowley (for Hansen '73) - 6
Gus McCarthy (for Sheehan '74) - 6
The match was full of talking points - before, during and after - so our Wales vs. Ireland liveblog will keep you up to date on all the contentious issues, pundit hot-takes, scores, and our Ireland player ratings. There are also updates from both camps, some sniping from the media and some bold predictions on the match.
Click on the key point you want to read about, or just keep scrolling to see updates in our liveblog [below]:
WALES vs. IRELAND LIVEBLOG
- Telegraph writer claims 'Irish arrogance is becoming hard to ignore'. In his column for the UK outlet, Welsh sportswriter James Corrigan has used Off The Ball's tongue-in-cheek chat about struggling Wales to suggest little old Ireland are getting too big for their boots. 'Ireland’s ascent to rugby’s top tier has been undeniable,' he writes, 'but an insufferable superiority among their fan base has become too much.' Poor Jamie Heaslip cops some flak in the piece, too. You can read that full column here.
- Sam Warburton has been digging into leading contenders for the Lions back-row and has foretold of a 'brutal decision' that Andy Farrell will have to make. In a piece for The Times, the former Wales and Lions captain stated that England's Ben Earl, who can cover openside, should be going to Australia, this summer. He then explained how Farrell is only likely to choose three from these opensides - Josh van der Flier, Rory Darge, Tom Curry and Jac Morgan. Flagging Jack Willis as another option, Warburton writes, 'It is a brutal decision because we have a Test quality Lion who is going to miss out.'
- Former Ulster and Ireland flanker, Stephen Ferris has railed against the narrative that has built a lot of steam since the win over Scotland - Ireland fans and media being arrogant. Posting to Twitter, Ferris stated, 'Reading a lot this morning about Ireland now being arrogant... (Welsh media). Won 18 of your last 20 games in the Six Nations and have scored on average over four tries a game, and beating Wales by more than 20 in last three encounters. Being good must make you arrogant.'
The Ireland team during the national anthems before the Guinness Six Nations Rugby Championship match against England, at Aviva Stadium in Dublin. (Photo by Sam Barnes/Sportsfile)
Simon Easterby insists Ireland won't take Wales lightly
During his press briefing in Dublin, before Ireland flew out to Cardiff, interim head coach Simon Easterby insisted his players would not be taking Wales for granted, despite their 14 straight Test defeats.
"The thing is," Easterby told reporters, "there's a few very good examples over the last few years and maybe a little bit further down the line where teams have turned up in Cardiff and they certainly haven't got it all their own way and sometimes have ended up getting well beaten.
"So, there will certainly be no complacency from us, they will have an unbelievable appetite and passion to try and put right some of the things that have gone on over the last couple of weeks and maybe months, looking back to November and last summer.
"We have to prepare as we would normally prepare for every game and that's been our focus all week."
SEE ALSO: The Famous All Blacks Phrase That Ireland Confounded At Soldier Field
Ireland player ratings throughout 2025 Six Nations
Throughout this Six Nations championship, we will be running team announcement and big match liveblogs, which will include our Ireland player ratings.
Their opening game of the championship saw Jamison Gibson-Park and Dan Sheehan score highest, with 9/10. Finlay Bealham, Mack Hansen and James Ryan were the three starters that scored steady but unspectacular 6/10s.
In the 14-point win over Scotland, Gibson-Park (again) and Andrew Porter topped our scoring charts with 9/10s. Bealham, Sam Prendergast, Rónan Kelleher and Tadhg Beirne all scored 8s.
Another person that will be watching the championship closely is Ireland head coach Andy Farrell. He is on sabbatical from his IRFU job as he carries out his duties as British & Irish Lions head coach.
