Ireland eventually pulled clear in the second half to comfortably win this encounter 41 – 6 scoring five tries in the process.
Earls scored in each half and O’Driscoll, Kearney and Horgan put the icing on the cake as Fiji tired. Sexton converted all five tries and added two penalties to cap an impressive debut.
Unfortunately the Fijian game plan was somewhat curtailed by the weather and the Pacific Islanders veered away from their flamboyant play and concentrated on taking the ball up through their forwards leading to a disappointing game. In fact so un-enthralling was the match that I spent most of the last quarter flicking over to the Scotland v Australia coverage.
As far as the Ulster boys were concerned Court and Ferris both played well. Court actually got a little angry midway through the first half and I think that does improve his game as he certainly got more involved around the pitch afterwards.
Ferris appeared to do most of the tackling for the team and still had the stamina for a few breaks towards the end and is starting to show signs that he’s getting back to his best.
Can’t recall Trimble touching the ball when he came on and I was surprised that Wallace didn’t come on at half time for an out of sorts D’Arcy.
Nagusa certainly looked keen when he came on for Fiji but he is still getting involved far too much at the breakdowns!
As far as selection decisions go for next Saturday Sexton showed that he is currently head and shoulders above O’Gara, Darcy played his way out of contention and Earls showed a lot more than Horgan. The selections however will be O’Gara, D’Arcy and Horgan as Kidney goes for safety first and relying on BOD to be the game breaker. Let’s hope I’m wrong as I think SA are going to completely outmuscle us up front and we’re going to need to play it fast and loose in the backs.
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2 Responses to “Ireland 41 Fiji 6”
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“The selections however will be O’Gara, D’Arcy and Horgan as Kidney goes for safety first…”
Dreadfully cynical of you Dewi. Unfortunately you are probably quite right. Seems to be a lot of that “safety first” mentality at the minute….when maybe grasping the nettle would be much more appropriate.
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Good summary – thought the 2 ulster boys in the forwards played well with Court showing that the selection was merited. Sexton hardly put a foot wrong – but i think that ROG will get the nod as expected – what a shame as he offers far more that ROG can give.
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