It was a sobering afternoon for Irish women's rugby as they slumped to a 31-5 defeat to a powerful Wales side in their TikTok Six Nations opener at Cardiff Arms Park.
Ireland ran riot on their last visit to the venue two years ago, racking up seven tries in a 45-0 win, but the two sides have travelled in radically different directions since.
The hosts' victory was built primarily on overwhelming dominance up front, the Irish scrum utterly helpless in the face of the Welsh pack, being walked backwards at a rate of knots time and again in the first half.
As It Happened: Wales 31-5 Ireland
Wales 19-year old tighthead prop Sisilia Tuipulotu, in particular, had a field day, dominating the considerably smaller Irish front row and getting over for the hosts' fifth and final try, moments after she had a score chalked off for a mistake in grounding the ball.
Wales took the lead in the fourth minute as a good drive from the maul saw Alex Callender touch down in the corner, but they suffered a blow when Gwen Crabb was taken off with injury minutes later.
Scrum-half Keira Bevan added another try in the 14th minute, breaking forward through a gap, and the driving maul proved effective again for the Welsh as replacement Sioned Harries crossed in the 23rd minute. They added a fourth just before the break when a smart move allowed Kerin Lake to burst through the Irish defence and hand the ball off to captain Hannah Jones who touched down underneath the posts.
Ireland were strangers to the opposition 22 in the first half, only encroaching that far very late in the half, when Sam Monaghan blocked down a clearing kick, forcing Welsh centre Jones to scuttle back to retrieve. But the Irish chasers immediately went off their feet at the ruck
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