Irish off to a winning start

Ireland were clinical in the first half with tries from Sene Naoupu and Sophie Spence, with the only Welsh points coming from Robyn Wilkins.

Wales started brightly with some strong driving line out work and good wide play, and a penalty saw Wilkins got them on the scoresheet early on with thanks to her good strike at goal.

Ireland's captain Niamh Briggs responded with a penalty of her own shortly after and Ireland started to dominate the possession and territory stakes in front of a crowd that was just under 4,000.

As Ireland grew in confidence, Wales struggled with their discipline, especially at the breakdown, and after repeated penalties, Leah Berard yellow carded Wales prop Megan York.

Wales did well enough in the early minutes when they were down to 14, but the pressure was starting to tell.

They did very well to bring down the impressive Irish number 10 Nikki Caughey close to the posts, but Ireland's persistence finally paid off in the 25th minute when centre Sene Naoupu skilfully raced her way through from 30 metres for a fine solo score.

Briggs converted to the right of the posts for a 10-3 lead and with Claire Molloy a real thorn in the Welsh side, Ireland were getting a real grip on the game.

Four minutes before half-time, a neat move out to the left wing saw Briggs burst through a gap and combine with Mairead Coyne. Naoupu was up in support to take the pass and a final surge from Spence saw her crash over in the corner. Briggs' well-struck conversion attempt came back off the right hand post, leaving it 15-3 at the turnaround.

The Ireland skipper sent over a second successful penalty just four minutes into the second period, and although she knocked on from the restart, a handling error by replacement Gemma Rowland blew a try-scoring opportunity for the Welsh.

Briggs was extremely fortunate to avoid the sin-bin for pulling back Wilkins after she blocked the her clearance kick and Wales will rightfully be angry that a great try scoring chance, which could have brought them right back into the match, was denied.

Ireland had plenty of chances late in the game but could only add a Briggs penalty and Wales at times played into their hands but deciding to run the ball from dangerous positions, with the Irish defence punishing Wales thanks to some thumping tackles.

Wales will be disappointed with their discipline and exit strategies but will take spirit from some of their linking play and their set piece while players like Adi Taviner and Amy Evans showed very well.

For Ireland this was a strong win, given the players they were missing to the 7s programme, and there was no sign that their backs were light on experience with Caughey and Naoupu showing super skill at times.

Ireland take on France in Perpignan on Saturday, 13 February, while the following day in Neath, Wales host Scotland, who lost 32-0 to England on Friday.

Ireland Women: Niamh Briggs; Elise O'Byrne-White, Aine Donnelly, Sene Naoupu, Mairead Coyne; Nikki Caughey, Larissa Muldoon; Ailis Egan, Zoe Grattage, Ruth O'Reilly; Sophie Spence, Marie-Louise Reilly; Paula Fitzpatrick, Claire Molloy, Heather O'Brien.

Replacements used: Nora Stapleton (Old Belvedere/Leinster) for Caughney (39-40 mins, blood sub), Cliodhna Moloney (Railway Union/Leinster) for Grattage (50), Stapleton for Caughey, Ciara Griffin (Tralee/Munster) for O'Brien (both 58), Fiona Reidy (UL Bohemians/Munster) for Egan (58-61, blood sub), Ciara Cooney (Railway Union/Leinster) for Reilly, Jackie Shiels (Richmond) for Donnelly (both 66), Lindsay Peat (Railway Union/Leinster) for O'Reilly (70), Mary Healy (Galwegians/Connacht) for Muldoon (74), Reidy for Egan (77).

Wales Women: Adi Taviner; Elen Evans, Kerin Lake, Hannah Jones, Bethan Dainton; Robyn Wilkins, Keira Bevan; Megan York, Carys Phillips, Amy Evans, Rebecca Rowe, Sioned Harries, Rachel Taylor, Sian Williams, Shona Powell-Hughes.

Replacements used: Catrin Edwards (Llandaff North/Scarlets) for Dainton (20-29 mins, temp sub), Gemma Rowland (Wasps/Dragons) for Lake (32), Alisha Butchers (Penybanc/Scarlets) for Powell-Hughes (44), Elinor Snowsill (Bristol/Dragons) for Jones (51), Siwan Lillicrap (Skewen/Ospreys) for Rowe (54), C Edwards for A Evans (58), Dyddgu Hywel (Pontyclun/Scarlets) for Dainton (66), Amy Price (Skewen/Ospreys) for Phillips, Cerys Hale (Pontyclun/Dragons) for York (both 73).