Russians collapse in face of Irish thunder

IRB NATIONS CUP:

The game failed to last its full course, with Welsh referee Ian Davies putting safety first after ordering the players from the field in the midst of a thunder and lightning storm.

Ireland took the points on the basis of the game going more than 40 minutes and, in the circumstances, the Russians were probably happy enough.

Irish head coach Joe Schmidt has more pressing matters with the senior team in Argentina and he will look at the video later. However, he won’t learn much other than with ball in hand he has a couple of gems, amongst them Andrew Conway and Craig Gilroy. He would already know about Gilroy. Now he will take a closer look at Conway.

Between them, the wingers notched five of Ireland’s tries as they cruised to an effortless win.

Schmidt’s sidekick Dan McFarland would have preferred a sterner test. “It’s one of those games that you don’t know what to make of, but one has to be positive and take the good things from the display,” he said.

“We scored a lot of tries and some of them were really well worked, so we have to be happy with that. We came out here to win all our games and give exposure to a number of players at this level; they’ve gone out and done that, so we can’t really complain.”

Ian Keatley limped off with a leg injury early in the second half but did manage to play a telling role in a one-sided first half, grabbing the opening try and tacking on six conversions as the Irish enjoyed a trouble-free run.

Russia did pose some problems with their physicality up front and at times challenged McFarland’s men at both scrum and line-out.

Ireland thrived in the wide open spaces and took full advantage of the chances that came their way, with wingers Conway and Gilroy showing a ruthless streak.

Keatley set the ball rolling after just three minutes but despite Russia’s gritty display up front, the scores came quickly and easily.

Munster’s Conway hasn’t got a lot of game time of late but he prospered yesterday. Anthony Foley will have noted the former Leinster winger got on the scoresheet three times and made an early impact with the first of his tries after six minutes, which helped Ireland settle.

Niall Annett got the third try but Conway nabbed two tries either side of a score from Gilroy.

New Munster signing Robin Copeland and his new back row colleague Tommy O’Donnell inflicted further pain on Russia and Keatley kicked those six conversions to secure an unassailable 52-0 half-time lead.

The Irish continued to control matters for the remaining minutes, scoring tries from Paul Marshall and Gilroy, while replacement out half JJ Hanrahan kicked the two conversions before referee Davies called a halt to matters.

EMERGING IRELAND: J Murphy (Munster), C Gilroy (Ulster), S McCloskey (Ulster), E Griffin (Connacht), A Conway (Munster), I Keatley (Munster), P Marshall (Ulster), C Black (Ulster), N Annett (Ulster), M Bent (Leinster), M Kearney (Leinster), D Foley (Munster), D Ryan (Leinster, captain), T O’Donnell (Munster), R Copeland (Munster).

Replacements: JJ Hanrahan for Keatley (40), J Treacy (Leinster) for Annett (42), J Ryan for Bent (46)

Referee. I Davies (Wales).