Women's Six Nations 2023: Wales 31-5 Ireland - Bonus-point win for hosts

Wales began their Six Nations campaign in style with a comfortable bonus-point win over Ireland.

The Irish had come to Cardiff looking for revenge after losing in Dublin last year, but were outplayed in front of a record home crowd of 4,962.

Wales ran in four tries in a dominant first half, with player of the match Sisilia Tuipulotu adding a fifth.

Nichola Fryday powered over for an Irish consolation as the hosts faded in the final quarter.

Wales kicked off their tournament with a largely settled squad after making the quarter-finals of the Rugby World Cup last year, while Ireland are a team in transition.

Their new head coach Greg McWilliams was without a host of sevens players, and gave debuts to backs Meabh Deely, Aoife Dalton and Natasja Behan.

Wales shrugged off their tag of being sluggish starters and came out firing, playing with the wind.

The lively crowd, a record for Wales in the Six Nations, did not have to wait long for something to cheer as Ireland were destroyed in the first scrum.

Wales' pack targeted the inexperience of Ulster's 18-year-old loose-head prop Sadhbh McGrath on her Ireland debut.

They kicked to touch from the penalty with their driving maul proving just as effective as it did last year and Alex Callender guided to the line by the charging pack.

Keira Bevan was just wide with the touchline conversion.

• As it happened & reaction: Wales 31-5 Ireland

Wales were then dealt a blow when Gwen Crabb was forced off through injury, the second row having only just come back after fracturing her fibula in December.

But the experienced Sioned Harries proved an able replacement, coming on at number eight with Bethan Lewis moving to flanker and Georgia Evans to lock.

Despite the re-shuffle, Ioan Cunningham's side were soon back on the front foot after some good work from the forwards, providing Bevan with fast ball at the breakdown.

They edged towards the try-line as Bevan took a snipe and crashed under the posts, before converting her own effort.

Ireland then conceded a penalty at the breakdown which allowed Wales to set up another five-metre driving line-out and Harries the beneficiary this time.

As Hymns and Arias began to ring around the ground, Bevan added the conversion to give her side a commanding lead as the Irish looked disjointed and lacking leadership.

Wales wrapped up the bonus-point just before half-time with a training ground move. Harries picked up from the base of the scrum before offloading to Kerin Lake, who handed off the last defender before putting skipper Hannah Jones over.

Wales captain Hannah Jones scored in Wales' 27-19 win over Ireland in Dublin last year

Ireland came close to pulling one back, Sam Monaghan charging down Elinor Snowsill's clearance, but the Wales fly-half recovered and earned a penalty.

They took advantage of further indiscipline as Ireland tried to play their way out of their 22, but this time the driving line-out malfunctioned.

Ireland were back under pressure at the start of the second half and forced to cough up a penalty.

Wales went for the corner to set up a driving maul and Tuipulotu powered over for her first Six Nations try, before Bevan added the conversion.

But an unusually late intervention from television match official (TMO) Ian Tempest saw referee Amber McLachlan bring play back for a knock-on.

Ireland were also reduced to 14 players in the build-up, Deirbhile Nic a Bhaird shown a yellow card for a deliberate knock-on.

Wales worked their way back to the try line and Tuipulotu was not to be denied at the second time of asking.

Ireland then enjoyed a spell of pressure as the home side's discipline let them down.

Both teams began to empty their benches, with Royal New Zealand Navy officer Kate Williams winning her first Wales cap, having moved back to her country of birth from Auckland.

There was also a first Ireland appearance for Niamh O'Dowd.

As the game became fragmented Ireland pushed for a consolation and they got it as captain Fryday touched down.

Wales captain Hannah Jones told BBC Sport Wales: "It was a brilliant start, we talked about having a fast start and we definitely did that.

"We had a brilliant crowd to back that up, a record crowd, which was brilliant.

"It really helps on the field to hear that 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 said: "There's a lot of positives, but you can't give 40 minutes of not performing to your best against a team like Wales, though there was real fight from the girls and I'm proud of that.

"It was our errors, giving away silly avoidable penalties. When you give Wales momentum like that, they'll kick to touch and build themselves up the pitch through their kicking 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.

Match officials

Referee: Amber McLachlan (RA)

Assistants: Doriane Domenjo (FFR) & Maria Latos (GER)

TMO: Ian Tempest (RFU)