Islanders all at sea against Irish

THE IRFU subsidised Fiji’s visit to Lansdowne Road yesterday to the tune of 50,000. At the end of the nine try, 64-17 mauling of the hapless South Sea islanders, they must have wondered if they had would have been better off holding on to the money both in respect of their own weakening financial situation and to save their visitors from this latest humiliating defeat.

Any side capable of making Wales look good had to be cannon fodder for Ireland, even if yesterday's side was a combination of Ireland's first and second strings. The first half Fijian

defence or rather the lack of it was cruelly exposed by a fleet-footed Irish side full of fringe players who were never going to show any mercy as they tried to make a point to Eddie O'Sullivan and company.

"I was embarrassed at the way we stood off in the first half," admitted

Fijian coach Mark McCallion. O'Sullivan made all the usual noises, about how this and that worked, and how pleased he was with the outcome. Well he might after what has been an outstanding eight days for Irish rugby. Equally, the scoreline made a mockery of the coach's pre-match remarks and those of several of his players about how Fiji merited all their respect and that kind of tuff. Sadly, they were as bad as everybody but the Irish camp knew they would be.

"The game was beneficial to us for several reasons, chiefly because it gave guys a chance to get on the paddock who would otherwise have been on the sidelines," O'Sullivan reasoned.

"We did not want to throw it around too early and we kept the structure we wanted, and in the end I was very happy with our performance. I think we got on the wrong side of the referee for a time and while it is hard to see negatives having won by such a wide margin, we gave up two tries and we'll be having a look at that because we always want to keep a clean slate. We had a good win against Australia and again today, but we won't be getting carried away and we know it's going to be tough next week against Argentina."

It was far from easy for any of those hoping to catch the eye to make a sizeable impact given the poverty of the opposition. True, Geordan

Murphy looked the quality player at fullback Dean Richards has been telling us about for ages. Justin Bishop on the left wing has good reason to believe Ireland forgot about him all too easily and for Guy Easterby. Given the trend of the game, it was a certainty that Kieron Dawson, another London Irishman out of the picture for too long, would be constantly seen in a favourable light. He scorched over for a cracking second half try.

As for the more established players, they continued in the same vein as in the previous week against the world champions. Brian O'Driscoll and Kevin Maggs in the centre and Shane Horgan on the right wing, were given the freedom of Lansdowne Road and put the Fijians to the sword in quite merciless fashion. Horgan isn't exactly the consummate right wing but the sleight of hand and angles of running he displayed for the game's opening try by Murphy showed his game is

improving with almost every outing.

Why O'Driscoll chose to kick the ball on no fewer than five occasions in the first half was difficult to comprehend and probably saved Fiji from an even bigger hiding. When he chose to run, however, he looked the class act he undoubtedly is, a point graphically made by his 17th try in 32 internationals for his country.

Maggs is now one of the most solid midfield operators in the game, both in defence and attack, and he helped himself to a couple of tries. He was duly voted man of the match, an announcement he greeted with his third try just before the finish. Not there weren't imperfections in the Irish performance. The defence, so excellent the week before, was caught napping immediately after the restart when flanker Alivereti Doviverata got over for a try converted by Nicky

Little. They were subsequently ripped apart for Fiji's second half try, touched down by substitute Joseph Narruhn. Defensive coach Mike Ford will have taken due note.

Nevertheless, the onslaught on the Fijian citadel continued and there were further tries for Dawson, Anthony Foley and, of course, Maggs.

What long term purpose it all served wasn't easy to discern. Any resemblance between this and international rugby was purely coincidental. But McCallion insisted the exercise was worthwhile. "We have learned a great deal from our matches against Wales and Ireland."