the grand slam door was slammed in ireland’s face at the millennium stadium as wales defended their patch like 15 cardiff bouncers to secure a famous rbs 6 nations victory as the welsh tackle count moved past the 250 mark, it was clear that ireland had finally met their match there have been questions about the entertainment value of northern hemisphere rugby but, if ever an advert was needed, this was it shaun edwards punched the air in delight and the championship race lives on wales killed off ireland’s 10 match winning run and – describing himself as ‘a simple kiwi boy’ in the post match press conference – warren gatland proved that he is a smarter tactician than a tub of flora scott williams touches down after 62 minutes to score wales' only try of the game to keep their six nations hopes alive  williams makes a break for the line past tommy bowe before putting wales into a commanding second half lead  williams goes over while ireland players look on with dejection as they see their grip at the top the six nations weakened by defeat in wales  bowe puts his hand to his face in anguish after williams' try as wales held on to dash ireland's hopes of winning the grand slam  wales xv: halfpenny, north, davies, roberts, williams, biggar,webb; jenkins, baldwin, lee, charteris, wyn jones, lydiate, warburton (captain), faletau  tries: williams  penalties: halfpenny (5) drop goal: biggar  ireland xv: kearney, bowe, payne, henshaw, zebo, sexton, murray; mcgrath, best, ross, toner, o'connell, o'mahony, o'brien, heaslip replacements: cronin, healy, moore, henderson, murphy, reddan, madigan, jones  tries: penalty  conversions: sexton  penalties: sexton (3) ‘a lot of our players ran themselves into the ground,’ said gatland ‘in terms of atmosphere and intensity, it had everything as a test match sometimes you suffer a loss and the next three or four days are a struggle to get out of bed; we were definitely on it emotionally’ that emotion was beamed through the exquisite kicking game of full back leigh halfpenny ireland’s jonathan sexton was dubbed as the player with gold plated feet, but the celebrated no 10 did not quite live up to his billing the visitors were shot down in ‘the battle of the skies’ and were forced to dessert their aerial game that was so effective against england in the early exchanges, rob kearney fumbled a short kick off and gethin jenkins won a fine turnover sexton kicked a restart straight into touch and wales were able to build up phases all the momentum was with the hosts and, after 13 minutes, they were 12 0 up welsh forwards coach robin mcbryde has told supporters not to expect a feast of flowing rugby but   despite tickets exchanging hands for £300 a pair on the blackmarket before kick off – they were more than happy with what they were seeing ‘there are a few “what ifs” and “maybes”,’ said ireland coach joe schmidt ‘you look at the small margins that might potentially have changed the result our strategy was the same as the last few weeks but it’s not a case of back to the drawing board we won’t throw the baby out of the bath water because it’s pretty hard to start all over again’ wales were building nicely but their progress was stalled by an injury to samson lee in the front row gatland breathed a sigh of relief as sexton pushed his first penalty wide of the left post, but the no 10 made amends with his second effort following a cheap high tackle by scott baldwin the tables were there to be turned and ireland identified lee’s replacement, aaron jarvis, as a weakness at the set piece they immediately used their choke tackle to set up a scrum, but sam warburton stole a dangerous attacking line out from devin toner’s 6ft 11 grasp shortly after wales captain sam warburton celebrates with the rest of the squad as they do a lap of honour around the millennium stadium  it takes two ireland players to put a stop to goerge north's burst forward  jamie roberts makes a tackle on rory best during a spirited defensive performance by the hosts during famous win  leigh halfpenny scores the opening points of the match with a wales penalty at the millennium stadium in cardiff  it was a carbon copy of toner’s pivotal steal against england two weeks ago, however the hard work was undone when the welsh skipper was sent to the sin bin after half an hour sexton continued to edge his side back with two more penalties – sandwiching a fine drop goal by dan biggar – but wales survived the yellow card with their half time lead still intact gatland was forced into more front row changes at half time when he lost jenkins to a hamstring injury ireland needed to change their approach after the break and they enjoyed more possession and territory schmidt’s players were consistently penalised for not rolling away in the first half and their discipline improved in the second they enjoyed more improved territory and possession, but lack the execution in the final third they camped themselves deep in welsh territory in the 50th minute but were repelled by a cacophony of noise and fierce tackles inspired by the roars, warburton rallied his players, locked the gates and forced ireland backwards in a breath taking seven minutes, the welsh defence saw off two full blooded attacks – combining almost 50 phases – and eventually won the penalty when sexton went off his feet at the breakdown wales outside half dan biggar bags three more first half points for the hosts as he scores a drop goal  ireland's johnny sexton carries the ball forward for the visitors as wales skipper sam warburton closes in  ireland's paul o'connell organises his side on his 100th cap in the six nations clash at the millennium stadium on saturday  samson lee  is treated by medics during the first half of the six nations clash between wales and ireland  prop forward lee leaves the field on a stretcher with what looks like a serious leg injury  it was a masterclass at snuffing out attacks   luke charteris made a remarkable 37 tackles throughout the game   and proved to be a flashpoint in the welsh charge play moved downfield and wales built up phases of their own the forwards carried powerfully   providing the backs with quick, front foot ball   and two quick passes found replacement centre scott williams the 24 year old, who had replaced jamie roberts because of a dead arm, short changed tommy bowe after 62 minutes and cut through the defence to slide over for the first try of the game ‘the attitude in defence was second to none,’ said warburton ‘shaun’s gone into a lot of detail all week about certain policies to cover their trick plays in attack the boys took on all that information and the detail paid off certain matches you can tell the boys are extremely focussed, and at breakfast i could see that everyone was so desperate to win’ wales were on the brink of their third home victory over ireland in 33 years, although ireland were not finished on the afternoon of his 100th test, paul o’connell turned down a near certain three points and ordered his fly half to kick for the corner peter o’mahony claimed the line out and wales conceded a penalty try by collapsing the maul it set up a tense finale – with jonathan davies being shown a late yellow card – but wales held on to set up another weekend of drama
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