Rampant Ireland destroy poor Canada
Ronan O'Gara scored 13 points today
Also In The News
|
Liverpool co-owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett have revealed they are set to open talks with manager Rafael Benitez over a new contract. |  |
Saturday, 08, Nov 2008 07:57
New Ireland coach Declan Kidney got his reign off to the perfect start as his team thumped Canada 55-0 at Thomond Park this evening.
The Irish were in blistering form in the first-half and were 38-0 up at the break. They ran in five tries through Keith Earls, Rob Kearney (2), Jamie Heaslip and Tommy Bowe. Their form dipped in the second-half, but they still managed three more tries through David Wallace, Alan Quinlan and another from Bowe.
Debutant full-back Earls had a dream start to his international career as he scored the opening try inside the first three minutes. Ronan O'Gara kicked a high ball which Justin Mensah-Coker fumbled. This allowed Brian O'Driscoll and Luke Fitzgerald to work the ball out to the wing and gave Earls the chance to dive over for the try.
Ireland grabbed their second try after 13 minutes, but it was a controversial score. With the ball bobbling in the Canada try area, Canadian winger Ciaran Hearn looked to ground the ball first, before Kearney claimed the try. Surprisingly the video referee decided to award the try.
Number eight Heaslip then took the old-fashioned route and used his brute strength to barge over the Canadian defence to score a try.
The Irish then found the Canada defence napping and O'Gara kicked the ball out wide which Earls gathered before off-loading the ball to Kearney for a simple run to the try-line.
A moment of brilliance from Eoin Reddan created the fifth try for Ireland. The scrum-half cleverly broke on the blindside of the ruck before passing the ball to Bowe who had eased to the try-line to grab the first of his two tries.
Ireland added another three tries in the second-half to complete and easy win. They will now look ahead to a much more daunting game against New Zealand next weekend.