Wales survived a late Ireland onslaught to claim a confidence-boosting 16-10 victory on Saturday.
With time up, the visitors were awarded a penalty for a high tackle and took it quickly. Sean Cronin went over under the posts soon after, but TV replays showed Leigh Halfpenny had held him up and the final whistle went.
It was sweet revenge for the Welsh, who lost 35-21 in the corresponding World Cup warm-up fixture in Cardiff three weeks ago.
Both sides scored just one try this time around, with Halfpenny's boot proving to be the difference.
Wales led 10-0 after 26 minutes, following a penalty from Halfpenny and a converted try by Justin Tipuric, who went over from a rolling maul. The hosts had turned down a shot at goal to kick for the corner, and with referee Craig Joubert having warned Ireland for collapsing previous mauls, it made sense to push for the try.
Jonny Sexton got Ireland on the board with a penalty, after they had started to enjoy some possession. The visitors then drew level on the stroke of half-time, when they took a scrum penalty quickly and Iain Henderson reached over to score.
Ireland came close to scoring again in the 53rd minute, but Tipuric ripped the ball away from Sean O'Brien, with the TMO ruling a knock-on.
Halfpenny then slotted two penalties to make it 16-10 with 11 minutes to go.
The Irish pushed hard for a match-winning try in the final frantic minutes, but Wales did enough to keep them out.
Ireland – Try: Iain Henderson. Conversion: Jonny Sexton. Penalty: Sexton.
Wales – Try: Justin Tipuric. Conversion: Leigh Halfpenny. Penalties: Halfpenny (3).
Ireland – 15 Rob Kearney, 14 Dave Kearney, 13 Luke Fitzgerald, 12 Robbie Henshaw, 11 Keith Earls, 10 Jonny Sexton, 9 Conor Murray, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 Jordi Murphy, 6 Peter O’Mahony, 5 Paul O’Connell (c), 4 Iain Henderson, 3 Nathan White, 2 Richardt Strauss, 1 Jack McGrath.
Subs: 16 Sean Cronin, 17 Dave Kilcoyne, 18 Tadhg Furlong, 19 Donnacha Ryan, 20 Sean O’Brien, 21 Eoin Reddan, 22 Paddy Jackson, 23 Felix Jones.
Wales – 15 Leigh Halfpenny, 14 Alex Cuthbert, 13 Scott Williams, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 George North, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Rhys Webb, 8 Taulupe Faletau, 7 Justin Tipuric, 6 Dan Lydiate, 5 Alun Wyn Jones (c), 4 Bradley Davies, 3 Tomas Francis, 2 Ken Owens, 1 Gethin Jenkins.
Subs: 16 Scott Baldwin, 17 Paul James, 18 Aaron Jarvis, 19 Luke Charteris, 20 James King, 21 Gareth Davies, 22 Rhys Priestland, 23 Hallam Amos.
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Photo: Paul Faith/AFP Photo
