Stockdale: Ireland physicality taken to 'next level'

Wing Jacob Stockdale felt Ireland took their physicality to a new level in their 24-14 bonus-point win over Wales in the Guinness Six Nations.

Tries by Jordan Larmour, Tadhg Furlong, Josh Van Der Flier and Andrew Conway saw Ireland home at the Aviva Stadium as they moved impressively towards a Twickenham appointment with England on February 22.

Andy Farrell’s team also remain on course for a Grand Slam, but reigning champions Wales’ hopes of a clean sweep are over after a deserved home win.

Stockdale told ITV: “It’s going to take a few weeks to get into the new structure of things, especially the new coaching ticket and new ideas, but I thought we did it really well today.

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“I think our physicality was brought to the next level and in all fairness to Wales, they came and they pushed us hard so it was just great to get the win.

“They came and they fired a few shots early on and we know how good we can be when we’re all over our carrying and our break down and it just had to come throughout the game.

“Once were started to do that the tries came and it was a really fun game to play in.”

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Wales captain Alun Wyn Jones, whose side scored converted tries through Tomos Williams and Justin Tipuric, admitted it was tough to take positives from a game which ended in defeat.

“Ultimately Test rugby is about winning isn’t it?” Wyn Jones told ITV. “You can have all the enterprise and all the beauty you like but ultimately it’s about the result.

“I think we probably gave them an opportunity in the first half, a couple of errors in particular, a couple of rucks potentially at crucial times.

“There were a series of penalties we felt we should have got more from but we didn’t.”

PA