No surprise.

Ireland’s opening Six Nations fixture ended in a narrow defeat to Wales yesterday afternoon with the men in green going down 21-16 at the Principality Stadium.

Andy Farrell’s side showed excellent character after going down to 14-men after just 13 minutes following a moment of madness from Peter O’Mahony, fighting their way back into the game to lead by 7 points at half-time.

But the one-man advantage proved to big a mountain for Ireland to climb in the end and it was the home side who came out on top, with Ireland having to make do with a losing bonus-point in the end.

Matters weren’t helped however by some questionable decisions from referee Wayne Barnes who has a history with not giving Ireland the “rub of the green” so to speak. Speaking after the game, Ireland captain Johnny Sexton thought it was pretty clear that Wales were very lucky to get away without being carded at least once.

“Yeah. You said it. It’s clear for me,” Sexton said.

“Tompkins sticking his hand out, the hand in the ruck, I don’t know what else to say.

“I’m not blaming that, I blame ourselves for the loss but when you show the bravery that we showed, they’re tough to take but it’s not a surprise really.”

On the lack of yellow cards shown to the Welsh, Ireland boss Andy Farrell commented:

“I don’t know whether they’ll be reviewed or not, I don’t know whether they agree or not but in the cold light of day, from what I saw, there was one or two there.”