Wales v Ireland - HIGHLIGHTS | Second Half Comeback & Late Drama! | 2021 Six Nations

Wales held on for a hard fought 21-16 home win over 14 man Ireland in the opening round of the Six Nations. Leigh Halfpenny opened the scoring for Wales with a penalty 5 minutes in to lead 3-0. The pivotal moment of the match saw Peter O'Mahony red carded for a shoulder charge cleanout making direct contact to the head after just 13 minutes, forcing the Irish to play the remainder of the match with 14 players. Five minutes later Halfpenny added a second penalty to make it 6-0. Despite being a man short, Ireland dominated the remainder of the first half, with two Johnny Sexton penalties in quick succession pulling Ireland level at 6-6 with around 5 minutes of the first half to play. A brilliant break from Robbie Henshaw into the Welsh 22 saw him find Josh van der Flier who was dragged down just short of the line, with a pick and go seeing Tadhg Beirne muscle over for the games first try to see Ireland head into the break up 13-6. Wales struck first in the second half, with a great offload from Josh Navidi seeing George North ghost through the gap to race in for a try to reduce the deficit to just two points at 13-11. Wales were finally making their extra man count and some superb quick hands saw Louis Rees-Zammit finish acrobatically in the right hand corner to send the hosts in front 18-13 heading into the final quarter. Momentum was still with the Welsh as Halfpenny slotted a penalty to make it a two score ball game at 21-13 with 15 minutes to play. Billy Burns pulled three points back for Ireland with just under ten minutes remaining to set up an intense finish to the match. Ireland would have a chance with time well up on the clock to set up an attacking lineout deep in the Welsh 22, but Billy Burns, looking to kick it right into the corner, sent it dead instead to end the match.