Jonathan Sexton’s late penalty earned Ireland a 16-16 draw with Wales in a compelling RBS 6 Nations clash at the Aviva Stadium.
Ireland captain Rory Best, was pleased his side had bounced after Rhys Priestland had kicked Wales into a 16-13 lead with less than 10 minutes to go.
“A draw is a hard result to put into words, obviously we are happy that we did not lose the game,” Best said.
“Going behind for the first time with only five or six minutes to go, it took a lot of character to come back from that and get a draw.
“There are a lot of positives for us there. Obviously there are work-ons as well but we are reasonably happy with that, we are still in the competition and we haven’t lost.”
“We can be a lot better but there are still a lot of aspects that we can be reasonably proud of.”
Of the impressive opening half-hour, when Ireland took a 13-0 advantage, Best said:
“It was a really pleasing 30 minutes, but to let them creep back with ten points in the first ten minutes is a bit disappointing.
“But having said that, we wanted to start well and we did that so you have to give credit to the lads.
“It’s a six-day turnaround now for France so we will take a quick look back at this, to make sure we go forward.”
