Such a close encounter however was never on the cards once Joy Neville crossed as Sophie Spence, Niamh Kavanagh, Alison Miller, Gillian Bourke and Ashleigh Baxter all touched down.

The result keeps Ireland title hopes alive as they now face Scotland before facing champions England in the final round of games.

It didn't take long before Ireland opened their account by mauling in a try from outside the 22 with Neville touching down although Niamh Briggs failed to convert while Wales' Laura Prosser was also off target with her penalty.

As strong as Ireland had been in attack, they were also able to showcase their defensive qualities when Grace Devitt was sin-binned and they had to withstand some testing Welsh pressure.

Unfortunately for Wales they came away with nothing and Ireland's quality backline soon made them pay.

Off a devastating attack, Spence scored under the posts with Briggs adding the extras before Claire Molloy burst free to set up Kavanagh for her third try in two games to give them a commanding 17-0 lead at the break.

Ireland continued where they left off after the restart, Millar pouncing after Wales lost possession in attack and sprinting to the try line with Briggs making the conversion.

It was quickly becoming a case of damage limitation for Wales but Bourke grabbed Ireland's fifth try from another maul on 54 minutes, although Briggs was denied by the post.

Ulster's Baxter then ran the sixth in with Briggs making her kick to leave the score at 36-0.

Even when Heather O'Brien became the second Irish player to be yellow carded almost immediately after coming, Wales still could not make any inroads and for the second successive game they were shut out.