Two tries: Keith Earls
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Ireland strengthened their chances of topping Pool C after claiming a nine-try 62-12 win over Russia at Rotorua International Stadium on Sunday.
With only six players backing up from the 15-6 upset of Australia at Eden Park last weekend, they still maintained their three-point lead over the Wallabies in Pool C heading into the final games.
A mass of green among the 25,661 capacity at the Rotorua venue generated a homely feel for for Ireland. And they steamed to a 43-0 lead eight minutes after half-time before taking off their key men and giving Russia the chance to get on the scoreboard with two late tries.
The Irish will lock up Pool C with victory over Six Nations rivals Italy in Dunedin next Sunday, with the Italians to first play the USA on Tuesday.
Fly-half Ronan O'Gara, the official man-of-the-match in his 115th Test, extended his Irish scoring record to 1,054 points with 15 points from six conversions and a penalty before he was replaced with 15 minutes remaining.
The Irish put the Russian defence to the test early with 14 phases on their try-line before they lost fly-half Konstantin Rachkov to the sin-bin for a deliberate knock down.
In the time Rachkov was off the field Ireland cashed in with two converted tries to Fergus McFadden off an O'Gara kick and outstanding openside flanker Sean O'Brien.
O'Gara was at the heart of the Irish attacks and his goal-kicking and general kicking was immaculate.
But when Rashov returned late in the first quarter the Irish scoring slowed and it took them until late in the half to rush on three tries in as many minutes.
New Zealand-born scrum-half Isaac Boss dived over and planted the ball next to the post and centre Keith Earls finished off a break from winger Andrew Trimble.
The Irish finished the half in storming fashion when Trimble toed through off Andrey Garbuzov's error to score for an emphatic 36-0 lead at the break. O'Gara's sideline conversion attempt struck an upright costing him an unblemished kicking performance.
Earls sliced through for his second try eight minutes after the break and was taken straight off along with prop Cian Healy as Ireland looked ahead to their next big match with Italy.
Russia had their best moment in the match when full-back Vasily Artemyev scored a classy try, slicing through and then standing up Rob Kearney to score in the 51st minute.
The Russians had another 'victory' when winger Denis Simplikevich brushed off McFadden and Trimble to score the Bears' second try on the hour. But Ireland powered on with the replacements' bench cleared and they added three more tries to Kearney, Shane Jennings and Tony Buckley.
Man of the match: We have mentioned him time and time again but flanker Sean O'Brien continues to impress. He was a tower of strength for the Irish and deserved his first-half try.
Moment of the match: Russia scoring their second try through wing Denis Simplikevich. It was a fine score that led to big celebrations, despite the result already being beyond doubt.
Villain of the match: Letting his side down by putting himself in the sin-bin for a deliberate knock-down was not the wisest thing Konstantin Rachkov will ever do. It cost his team.
The scorers:
For Ireland:
Tries: McFadden, O'Brien, Boss, Earls 2, Trimble, Kearney, Jennings, Buckley
Con: O'Gara 6, Sexton
Pen: O'Gara
For Russia:
Try: Artemyev, Simplikevich
Con: Rachkov
Ireland: 15 Rob Kearney, 14 Fergus McFadden, 13 Keith Earls, 12 Paddy Wallace, 11 Andrew Trimble, 10 Ronan O'Gara, 9 Isaac Boss, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 Sean O'Brien, 6 Donnacha Ryan, 5 Leo Cullen (c), 4 Donncha O'Callaghan, 3 Tony Buckley, 2 Sean Cronin, 1 Cian Healy.
Replacements: 16 Rory Best, 17 Mike Ross, 18 Denis Leamy, 19 Shane Jennings, 20 Eoin Reddan, 21 Jonathan Sexton, 22 Geordan Murphy.
Russia: 15 Vasily Artemyev, 14 Denis Simplikevich, 13 Andrey Kuzin, 12 Sergey Trishin, 11 Vladimir Ostroushko, 10 Konstantin Rachkov, 9 Alexander Yanyushkin (c), 8 Victor Gresev, 7 Andrey Garbuzov, 6 Artem Fatakhov, 5 Adam Byrnes, 4 Denis Antonov, 3 Alexander Khrokin, 2 Valery Tsnobiladze, 1 Sergey Popov.
Replacements: 16 Evgeny Matveev, 17 Ivan Prishchepenko, 18 Alexey Travkin, 19 Alexander Voytov, 20 Andrey Bykanov, 21 Mikhail Sidorov, 22 Mikhail Babaev.
Referee: Craig Joubert (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Dave Pearson (England), Jérôme Garces (France)
Television match official: Giulio De Santis (Italy)
Comments
curates_egg says...
@hougie disagree that Sexton is off form - he has played very well. However, he has missed too many kicks. Given O'Gara is playing well AND slotting the kicks, he has done enough to start against Italy.
Posted 11:20 25th September 2011
tombomb says...
Tony Buckley may be the heaviest player at the world cup but he is also the worst player there just useless
Posted 11:05 25th September 2011
adamk says...
Watched McFadden's try a few times now and he did amazing to scoop that ball. Thought he had a good game apart from when he was switched to center where it took him a while to settle - also was instrumental to letting the second try through (sucked in by dummy and missed cover tackle)
P. Wallace did have a good game... but only really in offence, I still found his defensive efforts not great.
Posted 10:55 25th September 2011
melkdave says...
A good performance by Ireland kept the momentum from the wallaby win and P.Wallace played really well/He deffinatly dosent look as bad as some irish fans made out lol.Russia also played well and made Ireland work hard for the win and deserved their 2 tries both well made and taken come 2015 Russia may be like Samoa now a threat tot the big boys .I hope so anyw3ayand please IRB/RWC no more 4 day turnarounds unless every team has 1 ok
Posted 09:38 25th September 2011
leinster_goy says...
couldn't help but notice heaslip's poor attempt at a tackle for the first russian try. he's clearly on bad form. but its likely kidney will stick with him for the italy game since leamy and jennings are clearly not international class
Posted 09:00 25th September 2011
GCP_JONES says...
Good result I suppose hopefully no injuries, what has happened to Irelands ability to score of set-piece/first phase, we were top drawer when it came to that facet of play.
Can anyone tell me why the IRB refuses to let teams have an entire front row on the bench, it just does'nt make sense, Tony Buckley while great around the park is an average tight head but is even worse when he has to go to loose head.
Next world cup every team at it should be compelled to play one mid-week match, It is totally unfair that teams like Russia have to play a game every 3rd or 4th day. There 2 tries were the best of the match though fair play to them.
Posted 08:51 25th September 2011
hougiebear says...
O'Gara has to start against Italy - He is totally in form unlike Sexton
Posted 08:10 25th September 2011
curates_egg says...
Lots of people took their opportunities. None more so than O'Gara. Interesting to see if that is reflected in the next selection.
Posted 07:59 25th September 2011
munster1981 says...
Let's hope Tony Buckley doesn't have to play anymore in this world cup!!!! Against a bunch of amateurs (no disrespect to Russia) he couldn't hold up his end of the scrum and gave away at least 3 penalties! Was anonymous in the loose until the last 10 minutes when the Russians were out on their feet.
I wonder if Buckley had been playing at Conncht or Ulster would Kidney have picked him for the World Cup? There has to be a better prop somewhere in the country!!!!
If he comes on against Italy we may forget about using the scrum as a set piece, or defending any Italian scrum successfully!
Posted 07:53 25th September 2011