Wales sealed Grand Slam glory with an emphatic 25-7 victory over defending Guinness Six Nations champion Ireland in Cardiff.
An early Hadleigh Parkes try and 20 points from the boot of Gareth Anscombe ensured the hosts completed the clean sweep in style at the Principality Stadium.
Ireland grabbed a late consolation try through Jordan Larmour, converted by Jack Carty, but the visitors had no answer to Wales’ intensity over 80 minutes.
The hosts enjoyed the perfect start to their Guinness Six Nations clash with Ireland when Parkes crossed the whitewash after just 70 seconds.
The move started with Alun Wyn Jones claiming Ken Owen’s throw at the lineout, before a driving maul from the hosts earned Warren Gatland’s men a penalty.
Knowing Wales already had the advantage, Anscombe chipped over the Ireland backline and Parkes rushed through to gather the ball and score.
Parkes was in the thick of the action again moments later – but this time at the other end of the pitch as he produced a remarkable try-saving tackle.
A clever cross-kick from Johnny Sexton picked out Jacob Stockdale, who caught the Welsh defence flat-footed and shrugged off Gareth Davies before racing towards the tryline.
But last year’s Player of the Championship was unable to add to his try tally as Parkes managed to make up the ground and bring the Irish winger down.
Wales went into the break with a commanding 16-0 lead after Anscombe added three penalties to his conversion of Parkes’ try.
And Anscombe increased his side’s advantage after the restart with another three-pointer after good work from Adam Beard and Josh Navidi forced the penalty.
The penalties kept coming for Wales and Anscombe added another two to his tally to move the hosts into a 25-0 lead with ten minutes left to play.
Ireland did manage to prevent the shutout when Larmour scored in the closing minutes – but it was too little, too late to spoil Wales’ party.
Carty’s conversion proved the last action of the match, allowing Wales to celebrate a third Grand Slam title in 11 years.
The victory also provided a fitting conclusion to Gatland’s 50th and final Guinness Six Nations match in charge of Wales.
It stretched their winning run to 14 games and saw him become the first coach in Championship history to claim a hat-trick of Grand Slams.
