Ireland ease past hapless Wales in Six Nations opener

DUBLIN : Ireland eased past reigning champions Wales 29-7 in the opening game of the Six Nations championship in Dublin on Saturday, picking up where they left off in November with a comfortable victory.

Ireland looked every inch one of the tournament favourites when they roared out of the blocks but only had a converted Bundee Aki try and a Johnny Sexton penalty to show for it at halftime as they invited the injury-hit visitors into the game.

The hosts quickly saw to that in the second half with two Andrew Conway tries either side of a yellow card for makeshift Wales centre Josh Adams before centre Garry Ringrose clinched a bonus point with try number four on the hour.

A late Taine Basham try ensured the visitors did not add a scoreless outing to an otherwise dismal day. Ireland travel to France next week looking to extend their winning run to 10 games in what is likely to be a far more difficult test.

(Reporting by Padraic Halpin, editing by Ed Osmond)