Wales started the Six Nations campaign in style with a comfortable win against Ireland.
The Irish came to Cardiff to seek revenge after being defeated to the Irish in Dublin the previous year. However, they were defeated by an attendance record of 4,962.
Wales scored four tries during a impressive first half, with the player at the top Sisilia Tuipulotu scoring the fifth.
Nichola Fryday scored the Irish consolation goal as the hosts slowed down in the closing quarter.
Wales began their tournament with a mostly well-established squad, having reached the quarterfinals of the Rugby World Cup last year While Ireland are that is in transition.
The new coach Greg McWilliams is without the services of a number of players from sevens and made debuts for the back line of Meabh Deely Aoife Dalton, and Natasja Behan.
Wales did not mind their reputation of slow starters, and went out with a vengeance, playing with the winds.
The cheering crowd, which was the highest ever to Wales during the Six Nations, did not have long to wait around for an opportunity to cheer, as Ireland were wiped out during the first scrum.
Wales The ‘pack’ of Wales focused on the lack of experience of Ulster’s 18-year-old loose-head prop Sadhbh McGregor in the day of her Ireland debut.
They swung to touch after the penalty, with their driving maul being just the same as it was last time and Alex Callender guided to the line with the help of the charging pack.
Keira Bevan was a little taller when she converted her touchline.
What happened and Reaction: Wales 31-5 Ireland
Wales were confronted with a setback after Gwen Crabb was forced off because of injury. The second row only having just returned from a fractured the fibula during December.
However, the experienced Sioned Harries was a good replacement. He was brought on as number eight, with Bethan Lewis being promoted into flanker position as well as Georgia Evans to lock.
Despite the reshuffle, Ioan Cunningham’s side were quickly back on the leading of the pack after some impressive work from forwards, who supplied Bevan with speedy ball on the breakdown.
They slid towards the goal line as Bevan was able to take a snipe, and smashed into the posts, only to convert her own goal.
Ireland was then penalized during the breakdown, which permitted Wales to establish a second five-metre drive-line-out, with Harries was this time the beneficiary.
When Hymns and Arias began to echo all over the field, Bevan added the conversion to give her team an impressive lead while the Irish seemed disjointed and lacking in leadership.
Wales finished off the bonus-point at the half-time break through a move on the training ground. Harries took over from the middle of the scrum, before passing onto Kerin Lake who passed over the final defender, before passing the skipper Hannah Jones over.
Ireland was close to pulling off a win, Sam Monaghan charging down Elinor Snowsill’s shot However, the Wales fly-half was able to recover and earned the penalty.
It was the indiscretion when Ireland attempted to find a way through their 22 however this time, the line-out for driving malfunctioned.
Ireland was again under pressure from the beginning of the second half , and they were forced to concede an extra penalty.
Wales tried to take advantage of the corner to create a driving maul . Tuipulotu made her way over to score their first Six Nations try, before Bevan added the conversion.
A surprisingly tardy intervention from the television official of the match (TMO) Ian Tempest saw referee Amber MacLachlan bring the game back to an extra knock-on.
Ireland were also cut to 14 players during the build-upphase, Deirbhile Nic Bhaird given the yellow card after a deliberate knock-on.
Wales returned to the line for the try and Tuipulotu did not have to be disqualified at the second attempt of trying.
Ireland was then under a period of stress as the Irish team’s discipline fell short.
Both teams started to empty their benches The first team to leave their benches was Royal New Zealand Navy officer Kate Williams winning her first Wales cap, after having relocated back to her home country of birth in Auckland.
It was also the first Ireland appearance by Niamh O’Dowd.
The game was fracturing and Ireland demanded an extra point and got it when captain Fryday made his way to the pitch.
Wales captain Hannah Jones told BBC Sport Wales: “It was a fantastic start. We talked about having a speedy start and we definitely achieved it.
“We were able to draw a huge crowd to follow that with a record-breaking crowd which was fantastic.
“It is very helpful in the field to be able to hear the noise. So thank you.
“We were lucky with the coin toss, we used the wind to our advantage, pinned them in their own 22. We aimed to score more tries and we did that today.”
Ireland captain Nichola Fryday told the Irish press: “There’s a lot of positives to take away, but you cannot let 40 minutes pass without being at your best when playing teams such as Wales although there was a real effort from the girls, and I’m extremely proud of that.
“It was our fault, giving away penalties that could have been avoided. If the game gives Wales momentum such as this, they’ll kick to their feet and gradually build on the field with their kick game.
“Wales have good cohesiveness from the World Cup and they’ve really built on what they’ve done in the last year.”
Wales: C Keight; L Neumann, H Jones (capt), K Lake, C Williams-Morris; E Snowsill, K Bevan; G Pyrs, K Jones, S Tuipulotu, A Fleming, G Crabb, G Evans, A Callender, B Lewis
Replacements: K Evans, C Thomas, C Hale, K Williams, S Harries, F Lewis, L George, H Bluck
Ireland: M Deely; A Doyle, A Dalton, E Breen, N Behan; N Cronin, M Scuffil-McCabe; S McGrath, N Jones, L Djougang, N Fryday (capt), S Monaghan, D Wall, M Og O’Leary, B Hogan.
Replacements: D Nic a Bhaird, N O’Dowd, C Haney, J Brown, G Moore, H O’Connor, D O’Brien, V Irwin.
