Disjointed Ireland scrape past Samoa but injury fears for Cian Healy

Ireland ended their pre-World Cup schedule with a hard-fought win over Samoa

Sat, 26 Aug, 2023 - 21:39

Simon Lewis Bayonne

IRELAND 17 SAMOA 13

Ireland ended their pre-World Cup schedule with a hard-fought win over Samoa on a rainy night in southwestern France made worse by a injury scare for veteran prop Cian Healy.

Andy Farrell’s Grand Slam winners edged home thanks to tries from Jimmy O’Brien, Conor Murray and Rob Herring having trailed 10-7 to Tier-Two Samoa at half-time. It completed a third consecutive win for the Irish ahead of their Pool B campaign which starts back in France on September 9 against Romania in Bordeaux.

Yet after a win over Italy on August 5 described by the head coach as “clunky” and a 29-10 victory against England that was far from fluent despite the margin of victory, this performance will raise concerns for Farrell as he prepares to finalise his trimmed down 33-man squad for the World Cup, set to be announced in Dublin on Sunday afternoon.

Ireland had been forced into a late change when left wing and newly-minted Test centurion Keith Earls was forced to withdraw from the matchday squad with what was described as a “niggle” by the IRFU. Earls had not taken part in Friday’s captain’s run training session and his absence saw Jacob Stockdale parachuted into the number 11 having been omitted from the original 23-player group which Farrell had named on Thursday.

It may have technically been an Ireland “home” game, organised at Farrell’s behest to simulate a World Cup match in France after a week’s warm-weather training in nearby Biarritz but no-one told the Bayonnais, who had sung their club’s pre-game anthem with gusto and made it clear their allegiances lay with the underdog Samoans.

The islanders gave them plenty to cheer despite the persistent rain that had fallen all day continuing throughout the match.

Samoa had started brightly but it was Ireland that had taken the lead with a ninth-minute try from full-back Jimmy O’Brien, created from a left-wing lineout, from where fly-half Jack Crowley launched a pinpoint crossfield kick that bounced invitingly into right wing Mack Hansen’s hands inside the Samoan 22. A try scorer seven days earlier against England, Hansen set off for the tryline once more and cut in off his wing in search of space, where he found support runner O’Brien available to crash over for the opening try. Crowley completed the conversion but after that little went right in the rest of the opening half for the Grand Slam winners.

The loss of Healy to a serious looking injury to his right leg at a scrum on 20 minutes was terrible luck but otherwise the disasters were all of Ireland’s own making. The lineout problems that tempered their 29-10 victory over England returned with a vengeance in Bayonne as promising opportunities went begging, either stolen by Samoa’s Saracens young lock Theo McFarland or simply poorly executed. The rain was clearly a mitigating factor but Ireland conspired to lose five lineouts in the first half.

Ireland’s Rob Herring with Lima Sopoaga and Jonathan Taumateine of Samoa

Ironically it was a successfully completed throw that led to Samoa’s equalising try three minutes before half-time. The ball moved from right to left, where inside centre Stuart McCloskey looked to find more width only for his pass to find Samoa’s Duncan Paia’Aua. It looked like a knock-on from the full-back but play continued and Paia’Aua raced more than 60 metres upfield to score the try to the delight of the Bayonne fans.

Former All Black fly-half Lima Sopoaga added the conversion and three minutes later ended the first half with a penalty as his pack won a scrum penalty, the successful kick delivering a 10-7 interval lead.

Another Sopoaga penalty, this time from in front of the posts, pushed Samoa’s advantage to six points at 13-7 on 46 minutes.

Ireland needed a spark and it came at a 50th-minute lineout that was replacement hooker Rob Herring’s first action after coming on for Tom Stewart. Ireland finally got their maul rolling and from there, Murray took over, the veteran scrum-half feinting the openside before switching back to the blind, creating space for Stockdale to advance down the left, chipping over the last defender. Murray won the foot race, falling on the ball as it crossed the line to drag Ireland back into the contest. Crowley missed the conversion but the deficit had been cut to a point with 30 minutes still to play.

The introduction of more heft and experience in the form of Peter O’Mahony and James Ryan also reaped rewards. When O’Mahony was dragged down at a maul, the penalty allowed Ireland access into the 22 and it was the second maul that did the damage, Herring carrying over to push Ireland into a 17-13 lead, Crowley denied with the conversion this time charged down by on-rushing scrum-half Jonathan Taumateine.

It took a poor kick from Sopoaga and a late lineout steal by James Ryan to prevent Ireland falling victim to a shock defeat but Ireland’s relief will be short-lived. Farrell is set to name his 33-man World Cup squad on Sunday afternoon and it will make for sleepless nights for several of his 38-player extended squad fearing the dreaded cut.

IRELAND: J O'Brien (R Byrne, 52); M Hansen, R Henshaw, S McCloskey, J Stockdale (G Ringrose, 65); J Crowley, C Murray (C Casey, 71); C Healy (J Loughman, 20), T Stewart (R Herring, 50), F Bealham (T O'Toole, 62); I Henderson – captain (J Ryan, 60), T Beirne; R Baird (P O'Mahony, 59), J van der Flier, C Doris.

SAMOA: D Paia’Aua; E Fidow (N Foma’i, 50), UJ Seuteni, T Manu, N Ah Wong; L Sopoaga, J Taumateine (E Enari, 67); James Lay (Jordan Lay, 62), S Lam (S Malolo, 50), P Alo-Emile (M Alaalatoa, 52); C Vui – captain (SJ Taufua, 41), T McFarland; T Seu, F Lee, S Luatua (M Fai’ilagi, 62).

Replacement not used: C Leali’ifano Referee: Wayne Barnes (England)