Ireland’s crushing 26-3 victory over Wales builds confidence and raises hope of a Six Nations title challenge, according to boss Joe Schmidt.
Wales were comprehensively out-played from the first whistle by their inspired hosts, who led 13-0 at half-time courtesy of flanker Chris Henry’s first international try and eight points from the boot of Jonathan Sexton.
Leigh Halfpenny kicked a penalty for Wales after the restart but a try from Paddy Jackson and five more points from the boot of Sexton sealed a comfortable victory.
There was the downside of lock Dan Tuohy suffering a suspected broken arm, while Wales centre Scott Williams left the Aviva Stadium with his arm in a sling after suffering a shoulder injury following what was an intensely physical contest.
Schmidt’s ferocious side were better than Wales at the breakdown, scrum and line-out, and they will now chase the Triple Crown against England at Twickenham on February 22.
Former schoolteacher Schmidt said Ireland cannot target the title outright just yet, but conceded his side will go to England brimming with confidence.
“I’m not going to think too far ahead,” said Schmidt. “But it’s certainly a gathering of confidence for us. The big, powerful team Wales brought today were always going to be tough opponents.
“They never quite got into the game really, they were perhaps not entirely match-fit some of them so in that respect I would suggest we were fortunate in some areas, and definitely benefited from that.
“We’ll get together again after a couple of days, review what we’ve done, take stock and work out how we can keep getting better. Then we’ll plot some sort of course forward going to Twickenham.
“That’s a massive game for us now; I think they were very unlucky against France and are an extremely powerful side.”
Former Gloucester lock Tuohy replaced captain O’Connell just before the hour, only to suffer almost immediate injury.
Lamenting his loss, Schmidt said: “I think Dan has fractured his forearm, and he will see a specialist.
“We will have more news on that next week but it’s almost certainly a fracture. It was really unfortunate for Dan, he played well last week. We had a lot of confidence putting him on, and it was really his first action that it happened so we feel for him and we’re really disappointed for Dan.”
Wales must forego all thoughts of a record-breaking third consecutive title after one of the worst defeats in coach Warren Gatland’s coaching tenure.
“It’s tough for us but I think it’sone step at a time: and the first step is to improve on what we’ve done here,” said Gatland. “We won’t be thinking in terms of retaining the Six Nations, we’ll be thinking about improving for our next game against France.”
Admitting Wales could have been caught out by Ireland’s dogged and direct gameplan, Gatland lambasted his side for conceding 17 penalties.
“Possibly there was surprise, I think it was effective,” said Gatland of Ireland’s brutal approach. “I can’t remember any occasion when they moved the ball through the backline to go at us.
“They dominated us up front and caused us a lot of problems.
“It’s just going back and having a look at those penalties we’ve given away, where we can improve.
“We have a target of 10 or less, so to give 17 away from our point of view was simply unacceptable.”
Wales skipper Sam Warburton had not given up hope of still retaining the Six Nations title despite the crushing Dublin defeat.
“We were definitely outplayed today – the best team won,” he said. “We’ve still got three games left, we won the championship last time with four wins and that’s still achievable this year.
"It’ll be a real test of character when we’ve got to bounce back against France in two weeks’ time.”
