Wales turn over Ireland

The uncapped match took place at the CCB Centre of Sporting Excellence in Caerphilly, South Wales, and is a repeat of what will be the opening game for both sides at the start of the championship.

Both sides took the opportunity to use a raft of players throughout the game.

Wales looked to attack Ireland aggressively from the off and almost scored in the opening phases of the game.

There were some strong tackles put in from Ireland, with out-half Nikki Caughey and lock Ciara Cooney landing some big hits, however Ireland's discipline in defence let them down when they strayed offside and offered Wales number 10 Robyn Williams a kickable penalty, but she failed to convert.

From another penalty Wales opted to kick for touch and from the resulting lineout, they moved the ball across the pitch to feed lively winger Elen Evans who took the opportunity well to touch down in the corner. Williams missed the difficult conversion.

The hosts continued to cause problems for the Irish out wide and with Cooney in the sin-bin for not rolling away at a ruck, uncapped wingers Elise O'Byrne White and Liz Burke were made to work hard in defence. While they kept the Welsh attack at bay for as long as they could, sustained pressure saw Wales register their second unconverted score of the game through centre Adi Taviner.

Trailing 10-0, Ireland responded by stringing a number of phases together and edged their way into the Welsh 22, only to concede possession at the breakdown where Welsh scrum half Amy Day suffered an ankle injury that saw her receive treatment on the field.

She was deemed fit to play on and Wales restarted the game with a scrum, but as Day picked the ball from the base, her ankle gave way and Ireland number 9 Larissa Muldoon snapped up the ball and raced across the line to score. Niamh Briggs was unsuccessful with her conversion attempt from out wide as the game edged towards half-time. Day was then helped off on a stretcher.

Ill-discipline around the ruck from Welsh flanker Rachel Taylor saw referee Claire Hodnett show her a yellow card but Ireland couldn’t capitalise.

Wales went through a number of phases, sucking in Ireland's defence before releasing the ball out wide to Elen Evans who crossed the line for her second try of the afternoon to make it 15-5.

"We're really pleased with the exercise, it's certainly a confidence boost‎ ahead of the Six Nations, especially as Ireland are current champions," said Wales head coach Rhys Edwards.

"The main objective was to provide an opportunity to play and put things into practice. We showed a clear intent to attack and although we missed a few opportunities to score, especially at the end, our defence was also up to the mark in keeping Ireland in their own 22.

"Ireland will be a different challenge on their own soil. We came unstuck last year after beating England but we have learned our lessons from that."‎