Irish team hails great victory in Six Nations
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AFP
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Mart 23, 2009 00:00
CARDIFF - Ireland's players have hailed their Grand Slam-winning performance against Wales as a "massive moment" after years of underachieving in the Six Nations.
Ireland claimed its first clean-sweep of the tournament since 1948 with their nail-biting 17-15 win over Wales, but lock Paul O'Connell admitted he thought his team-mates had let the chance slip away.
When Paddy Wallace strayed offside with less than one minute of play remaining, Stephen Jones had the chance to boot Wales to victory. Luckily for the Irish, his long-range effort fell short of the posts and Ireland could breathe a sigh of relief.
"I thought the Stephen Jones kick was going over," said O'Connell, who had an immense game.
"I saw it on target and thought we'd lost. It went from losing the whole thing to winning the whole thing in half a second," he added. "It's a massive moment"
Dramatic end
O'Driscoll added: "It would have broken my heart if that kick at the end had gone over."
"We couldn't have asked for a more dramatic end than that, for Stephen to miss that penalty by a yard. I'm so proud of the boys."
Ireland was 6-0 down at halftime but came out flying in the second-half, scoring tries through O'Driscoll and the impressive Tommy Bowe, Ronan O'Gara converting both, in the first six minutes. Stephen Jones clawed Wales back into the game with two further penalties and a drop-goal four minutes from the end. But O'Gara knocked over a drop-goal of his own, before Jones' last-gasp effort went wide to bring the curtain down on an enthralling game.
"We were still completely in it," O'Driscoll said of the half-time deficit. "We hadn't converted our pressure into points and we came out firing and got two quick tries."
Coach Declan Kidney added humbly: "It's 80 minutes and you take what's there at the end. Some days it swings for you and some days it doesn't."
When Paddy Wallace strayed offside with less than one minute of play remaining, Stephen Jones had the chance to boot Wales to victory. Luckily for the Irish, his long-range effort fell short of the posts and Ireland could breathe a sigh of relief.
"I thought the Stephen Jones kick was going over," said O'Connell, who had an immense game.
"I saw it on target and thought we'd lost. It went from losing the whole thing to winning the whole thing in half a second," he added. "It's a massive moment"
Dramatic end
O'Driscoll added: "It would have broken my heart if that kick at the end had gone over."
"We couldn't have asked for a more dramatic end than that, for Stephen to miss that penalty by a yard. I'm so proud of the boys."
Ireland was 6-0 down at halftime but came out flying in the second-half, scoring tries through O'Driscoll and the impressive Tommy Bowe, Ronan O'Gara converting both, in the first six minutes. Stephen Jones clawed Wales back into the game with two further penalties and a drop-goal four minutes from the end. But O'Gara knocked over a drop-goal of his own, before Jones' last-gasp effort went wide to bring the curtain down on an enthralling game.
"We were still completely in it," O'Driscoll said of the half-time deficit. "We hadn't converted our pressure into points and we came out firing and got two quick tries."
Coach Declan Kidney added humbly: "It's 80 minutes and you take what's there at the end. Some days it swings for you and some days it doesn't."