Wales 23 Ireland 19

Wales beat Ireland 23-19 in their Six Nations Championship clash at Lansdowne Road with substitute and world record points scorer Neil Jenkins scoring two late penalties to snatch victory.

Victory for the Welsh handed England the Six Nations championship crown.

England can secure the Grand Slam in the inaugural Six Nations Championship should they beat Scotland in the Calcutta Cup clash at Murrayfield on Sunday.

Wales ran in two tries through Nathan Budgett and Stephen Jones, who also added two conversions and a penalty, before withstanding a late Irish onslaught.  Winger Shane Horgan scored Ireland's only try with fly-half Ronan O'Gara successful with four penalties and a conversion.

Ireland had been looking to celebrate four successive championship victories for the first time since their Grand Slam winning team of 1948.

Scott Gibbs made his international comeback for Wales in the Six Nations finale.

The British Lions centre, who has not played for Wales since last November's Rugby World Cup quarter-final defeat by Australia, came in as a late replacement for club-mate Mark Taylor.

Taylor failed to recover from the leg injury he sustained playing for Swansea last weekend.

Wales, whose coach Graham Henry denied he was playing mind games with the Irish over Gibbs' possible inclusion, had delayed announcing their final team until just before the kick-off.

The Welsh had won six times on their previous eight visits to Dublin but they were up against a buoyant Irish who had triumphed in their three previous games.

Wales also included Colin Charvis, despite the Walsall-born flanker becoming embroiled in the eligibility row that cost them the services of New Zealand's Shane Howarth and Brett Sinkinson.

The Irish started brightly playing with a strong wind behind them and were awarded a penalty after four minutes when Welsh loosehead Peter Rogers dropped the scrum.  Fly-half O'Gara was on target from the 22 line just left of the posts to give Ireland a 3-0 lead.  Obstruction by the Welsh forwards in the lineout six minutes later gave O'Gara the opportunity to kick a further three points with the visitors struggling to make ground.

But the 23-year old fly-half failed after 12 minutes with his third attempt.

Welsh fly-half Stephen Jones had the opportunity to reduce the deficit moments later but kicking into a howling wind his strike failed to hit the target.

Wales were beginning to grow in confidence despite early home pressure and against the run of play raced in front after 19 minutes.

Neath winger Shane Williams was finally able to show the speed that has made him the team's find of the season.

Williams outpaced Horgan as he chased a hopeful chip ahead into Irish territory, forcing his opposite number to concede a penalty after impeding him close to the line.

Wales went for the line-out, from which Andrew Moore caught the ball and found flanker Nathan Budgett who was bundled over by his team-mates for the try.

It was the Ebbw Vale player's maiden score in his only second appearance in a Welsh shirt.  Jones converted to give his side a 7-6 advantage.

The score settled the Welsh and they attacked the Irish with real purpose.

The visiting pack started to dominate and provided the backs with plenty of ball.  And Wales capitalised on another act of Irish indiscipline when Jones struck a penalty before the interval.

Ireland were caught napping after 46 minutes when Jones receives a pass from Gareth Thomas to streak in under the posts as Wales threatened to run riot.  Jones converted to make it 17-6.  But O'Gara cut Ireland's lead to eight points after 49 minutes with another penalty as Ireland clawed their way back.

And Horgan brought the home crowd to life eight minutes later crashing over to put Ireland right back into the hunt.  O'Gara was on target with the kick to reduce Wales lead to a point.

Ireland then sensationally took the lead with a quarter of an hour to go when O'Gara struck his fourth penalty after the Welsh were caught offside.

But Wales rallied in the closing stages and Jenkins, a second half replacement for Stephen Jones, hit another three-pointer with six minutes to go as Wales edged ahead.

Two minutes later the Cardiff points-machine struck again to give Wales a four point advantage and despite suffering a late Irish barrage the Welsh held on for a deserved victory.

The Teams:

Wales:  1 Peter Rogers, 2 Garin Jenkins, 3 Dai Young (c), 4 Ian Gough, 5 Andrew Moore, 6 Nathan Budgett, 7 Colin Charvis, 8 Geraint Lewis, 9 Rupert Moon, 10 Stephen Jones, 11 Shane Williams, 12 Allan Bateman, 13 Scott Gibbs, 14 Gareth Thomas, 15 Rhys Williams
Reserves:  Dafydd James, Neil Jenkins, Robin McBryde
Unused:  Richard Smith, Spencer John, Emyr Lewis, Martyn Williams

Ireland:  1 Peter Clohessy, 2 Keith Wood (c), 3 John Hayes, 4 Mick Galwey, 5 Malcolm O'Kelly, 6 Kieron Dawson, 7 Simon Easterby, 8 Anthony Foley, 9 Peter Stringer, 10 Ronan O'Gara, 11 Denis Hickie, 12 Rob Henderson, 13 Brian O'Driscoll, 14 Shane Horgan, 15 Girvan Dempsey
Reserves:  Jeremy Davidson, David Humphreys, Andy Ward
Unused:  Guy Easterby, Justin Fitzpatrick, Kevin Maggs, Frankie Sheahan

Attendance:  40000
Referee:  Cole a

Points Scorers:

Wales
Tries:  Budgett N. 1, Jones S.M. 1
Conv:  Jones S.M. 2
Pen K.:  Jenkins N.R. 2, Jones S.M. 1

Ireland
Tries:  Horgan S. 1
Conv:  O'Gara R. 1
Pen K.:  O'Gara R. 4