Two late Donna Rose tries combined with a Hannah Jones effort, handed new Ireland head coach Greg McWilliams his first defeat as Ireland coach, as they fell to a 27-19 defeat to Wales at the RDS this evening.

Ireland had looked strong getting an early lead on the board, but Wales kept pressure applied throughout the afternoon, with the two late scores the difference.

A disappointing start to the tenure of McWilliams, with plenty to build on as the three tries scored by the Irish were sadly not enough to take the win on the day.

Wales had the better of the possession in the early exchanges, they were pinning Ireland back into their own half, as they struggled to overturn the ball in the rucks.

Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe managed to cross after 17 minutes for the opening try, she sprinted down the line and evaded the challenges to cross in the corner, Nicole Cronin made it 7-0 with the conversion.

Wales looked dangerous in the attack and were causing issues for Ireland, after a lineout they drove to the line with hooker Carys Phillips crossing for the try, making it 7-5 after 27 minutes.

The Irish response was quick and cancelled out the Welsh try, a great attack saw Sam Monaghan break for the line she offloaded to Linda Djougang who crossed in space, Cronin kicking the extras for a 14-5 advantage after 29 minutes, a lead they took to the break.

After the restart Wales looked dangerous yet again, pushing Ireland back into their own try line, Jasmine Joyce getting the offload outside before crossing over to reduce the gap to 14-10, after 47 minutes had elapsed on the clock.

Wales thought they had taken the lead after 53 minutes after crossing for another try, replacement hooker Kelsey Jones looked to have touched it down, but after TMO review the try was ruled out.

Against the run of play, Ireland had their third try of the afternoon after 57 minutes, Stacey Flood linking up with Eimear Considine, and it was Flood who touched down after getting the offload, she made it 19-10 as the Irish were living off scraps.

Rose scored her first Welsh try after 65 minutes, another driving maul saw the Irish driven over their line, as the prop managed to make it a four point game 19-15, Wales never letting off the pressure throughout the contest.

After another band of pressure late on it was Rose who crossed again after 74 minutes, Ireland down to 14 as Considine was sent to the sin bin after double digit tackles, after they ran the phases it was Rose who touched down at the back of the maul.

After 75 minutes the score was out of favour for the Irish, trailing 22-19 they needed to find something but they couldn’t get the elusive score, in the end it was Jones who ran clear to get the bonus point for Wales in the 79th minute