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Wales vs England 1999


Greg Holmes great hit on Francois Louw



Sunday, November 22, 2009

Ireland too powerful for Fiji in Dublin

Ireland followed on from their draw against Australia last weekend with a comfortable 41-6 win over Fiji at the RDS in Dublin on Saturday.

Leinster flyhalf Jonathan Sexton, standing in for the rested Ronan O'Gara, was impressive as he landed five conversions and two penalties on his first Test start.

He picked up the Man of the Match award on his debut, with coach Declan Kidney saying he was impressed by Sexton’s maturity out there. Fijian coach Glen Ella also praised him.

"I was impressed by Ireland's No. 10," Ella said. "He has a bright future for many years to come."

Fiji proved competitive at times but were outmuscled as Ireland scored five tries. Left wing Keith Earls scoring two, while others came from captain Brian O’Driscoll, Rob Kearney, and Shane Horgan.

Despite the significant score margin, O’Driscoll said Fiji were better than it seemed.

"One thing I have learned is that you have to grind down sides. That took us 60 or 70 minutes," the captain said. "The days of cricket scores in these sorts of matches are behind us."

Ella also thought the scoreline flattered the Six Nations champions slightly.

"We actually played much better than 41-6," he said.

"Obviously, Ireland are a quality team, they are very clinical. Naturally, we are disappointed but, in saying that, we improved from the Scotland game. We did, however, have a problem competing for the full 80 minutes."


Time: 05:51


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43 Comments:

  • first!

    Good result - highlights? Big hits in last 15?

    By Blogger Unknown, at November 22, 2009 5:55 pm  

  • Highlights on the way later. Plenty of matches this weekend. Catching up as fast as possible.

    By Blogger GMC, at November 22, 2009 5:56 pm  

  • Good result considering the storm conditions at the minute. Ire didn't attack Fiji's lineout at all which was the most unusual aspect of the night. Think D'arcy and Reddan have played their way out of the SA game, and Sexton looked very good. Although Ire shouldn't get ahead of themselves, as 3 years ago we were saying the same thing about Wallace after the Pacific Islands match. Sexton should get time next week and hopefully against Italy in 6N opener. Fiji were terrible also.

    I think O'Driscoll is the top try scorer in Internationals this calender year aswell. Must be 10 years since that happened, 6 from 9, excluding Lions tests, for Ireland 6 from 7. Bout time. Fourie and Habana are the only other 2 scoring on a regular basis, but I don't think asmuch.

    By Anonymous Huh!! the 3rd, at November 22, 2009 6:27 pm  

  • err understatement... let me put it in perspective for people outside of ireland.

    sexton should start ten against the boks. he da man

    By Anonymous B, at November 22, 2009 6:49 pm  

  • Cheers RD!

    Thought Sexton played well in his first start, think deccie - the cute hoor- will have a no 10 dilemma but its a good one to have!

    Fair play to the scots too, great result for them

    By Blogger Unknown, at November 22, 2009 6:52 pm  

  • Hang up your boots O' Gara! Sexton is the new Irish 10!

    By Anonymous Conor, at November 22, 2009 10:12 pm  

  • a good result but the score margin does not reflect how tough this game was for the 1st 55mins. The islanders hung in there 13-6 until the last 25mins when their fitness seem to give way.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at November 23, 2009 2:03 am  

  • sexton was a genius....looked like he has being playing for years.

    hopefully he will be to

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at November 23, 2009 11:00 am  

  • yeah he looked like a genius against Fiji.. WELL DONE? I'm sure ROG would have looked good too.

    By Anonymous Breakfast at Tiffany's, at November 23, 2009 12:38 pm  

  • Double movement on kearneys try

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at November 23, 2009 1:05 pm  

  • I was at this and to be fair sexton wasnt put under any pressure by the fijian's, wouldnt want to see him thrown in at the deep end against the boks, thankfully the ireland 10jersey looks taken for the next few years

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at November 23, 2009 2:51 pm  

  • No double movement

    By Anonymous TennisMan, at November 23, 2009 3:13 pm  

  • sexton kicked very well but I woulnt get too excited... made sum very good runs but had alot of space for them... not involved in any tries... kicking was flawless ..obviously:-) would love to see him start against boks

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at November 23, 2009 4:28 pm  

  • Can someone please clarify for me... was there not crossing for Earls first try? The dummy runner (O'Driscoll) comes across the front of Earls, preventing the Fijians from getting to grips with him.

    I'm a big Ireland fan, but I've got myself confused with the laws! Any input, clarification would be appreciated.

    Cheers RD

    Tony

    By Anonymous Tony Hart, at November 23, 2009 4:50 pm  

  • Ryle Nugent sounded like he was having an orgasm for Sexton's touchline conversions. And to be fair I think I was the same way. Especially considering how poor Ireland's outhalf has been lately at kicking goals.

    By Anonymous Kearney for tests, at November 23, 2009 5:01 pm  

  • o'gara should start against boks. if he starts screwing things up, throw sexton in.

    DUH.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at November 23, 2009 5:50 pm  

  • @ tony hart

    it wasn't crossing, because when o'driscoll went in front of earls,earls wasnt in possesion at the time.therefore o'driscoll wasnt preventing a tackle on earls.reddan passed after o'driscoll had moved out of the way,and so the try was legitimate(though others will disagree with me)

    By Anonymous Ireland for WC 2011, at November 23, 2009 6:26 pm  

  • @ tony hart

    it wasn't crossing, because when o'driscoll went in front of earls,earls wasnt in possesion at the time.therefore o'driscoll wasnt preventing a tackle on earls.reddan passed after o'driscoll had moved out of the way,and so the try was legitimate(though others will disagree with me)

    By Anonymous Ireland for WC 2011, at November 23, 2009 6:26 pm  

  • I hate RTE's persistance in showing penalties and conversions from behind the goal. Like someone said, Ryle Nugent having an orgasm about the kicks yet the viewer doesn't get it until the replay, if they show the replay at all.

    Whats the problem with keeping the camera behind the kicker and following the ball. Its nice to watch a good punt as it goes, not waiting to see the assistant refs raise the flags.

    By Anonymous Huh!! the 3rd, at November 23, 2009 8:15 pm  

  • omg just had a look at the line up for the barbarians match against NZ.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at November 23, 2009 8:41 pm  

  • completely agree with above,me and my brother were really annoyed about it as well

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at November 23, 2009 8:42 pm  

  • Forget the ba bas Sexton has clinched the no 10 jersey over ROG, selection has just been revealed and no place for Redden either. Stringer is preferred on the bench.

    Exciting and a little unpredictable by Kidney. I like it already. Keeps the Boks guessing and hopefully the no. 10 channel wont be as porous.

    By Anonymous Kenny, at November 24, 2009 2:42 pm  

  • 15 - Rob Kearney (UCD/Leinster)
    14 - Tommy Bowe (Ospreys)
    13 - Brian O'Driscoll (UCD/Leinster) (capt)
    12 - Paddy Wallace (Ballymena/Ulster)
    11 - Keith Earls (Young Munster/Munster)
    10 - Jonathan Sexton (St. Mary's College/Leinster)
    9 - Tomas O'Leary (Dolphin/Munster)
    1 - Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster)
    2 - Jerry Flannery (Shannon/Munster)
    3 - John Hayes (Bruff/Munster)
    4 - Donncha O'Callaghan (Cork Constitution/Munster)
    5 - Paul O'Connell (Young Munster/Munster)
    6 - Stephen Ferris (Dungannon/Ulster)
    7 - David Wallace (Garryowen/Munster)
    8 - Jamie Heaslip (Naas/Leinster)

    Replacements:

    16 - Sean Cronin (Buccaneers/Connacht)
    17 -Tony Buckley (Shannon/Munster)
    18 - Leo Cullen (Blackrock College/Leinster)
    19 - Denis Leamy (Cork Constitution/Munster)
    20 - Peter Stringer (Shannon/Munster)
    21 - Ronan O'Gara (Cork Constitution/Munster)
    22 - Gordon D'Arcy (Lansdowne/Leinster

    By Anonymous B, at November 24, 2009 3:58 pm  

  • ^^^^

    kidney makes th right choice at 10 thank god

    By Anonymous B, at November 24, 2009 3:59 pm  

  • Call me crazy but i also thought that Buckley played a stormer against Fiji and if he can keep up his concentration, he could be a shoe in for hayes

    By Anonymous Kenny, at November 24, 2009 5:52 pm  

  • Fiji suck it's not that much of a great achievement beating them with only five tries with a full strength team. BUT they're guna beat the boks I reckon. Boks have been the best team all year but I think they're just exhausted now and the injuries are showing it. And there's no juan smith, Pierre spies, jean de villiers, or francois steyn

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at November 24, 2009 8:50 pm  

  • To anon above unless Ireland match physically up front with SA like the French pack did Ireland will not win...

    And the Irish pack IMO has not got that in their capacity right now....Maybe in a year or two...So unless the irish backline plays simply out of their skin and scores with what little ball they get I see SA taking it....

    Anyways I'm hoping I'm wrong and I hope the irish pack walks all over the Boks...

    By Anonymous themull, at November 24, 2009 11:07 pm  

  • I'm really pleased that Kidney has given Sexton a chance to shine against the Boks at Croke Park. He really deserves it after his performance against Fiji.

    http://studsonthe22.blogspot.com/

    By Blogger Bamberio, at November 24, 2009 11:56 pm  

  • I'd take an injury ravaged and tired Springbok side over a healthy Irish side any day.

    By Anonymous Peio, at November 25, 2009 6:13 am  

  • Saturday will be a battle of the boot. Sexton vs Steyn - only one winner there. Morne you beauty!

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at November 25, 2009 11:45 am  

  • certain double movement on k's try.
    anyone else seen lots of that over the last few weeks not in scoring, but in open play. isolated players are tackled and held, but keep crawling/rolling till the forwards get there and prevent the turnover.
    spoils the game i think refs should look at that instead of messing with the scrum

    By Anonymous mat, at November 25, 2009 4:31 pm  

  • @ anonymous 2 places up:"saturday will be the battle of the boot".

    you may not know this,but there is a huge battle for ireland at inside-centre between darcy and wallace.darcy is a typical,strong,crash it up the middle 12,and wallace is a distributing 12.wallace's selection shows that ireland are trying to play an expansive game on saturday.

    the only way it will become a battle of the boot is if the weather is horrible(although there is a good chance of that)

    By Anonymous Ireland for WC 2011, at November 25, 2009 6:36 pm  

  • Oh and the Boks are going down faster than a prostitute on dole day.

    Jean de Villiers looks like being on the bench for Saturday. Hope he doesn't feature, firstly from an Irish POV, because he's dangerous, and secondly so he doesn't come back to Munster injured.

    By Anonymous Huh!! the 3rd, at November 26, 2009 12:37 am  

  • For those living outside Dublin's city limits, I wonder if the fervor for Sexton is so strong. I've got nothing much ill to say of Sexton, other than he's not really all that experienced, eh? I appreciate ROG for what he does for Munster and Ireland - it's great, but everyone with half a brain knows he's not the best number 10 by a long shot...he tackles like he's scared and is off and on in terms of his skills at creating gaps/timing.

    But I don't get the recent uproar over Sexton...you really want to stick him in straight away going into a match that the Irish have talked up as if the Pope were coming to town?

    I don't see why you wouldn't start O'Gara and then, if he misses the first chance at goal (for ROG, that probably means he'll have a shitty night), throw in Sexton.

    ----

    Oh, jeez, I just read that Kidney named the squad and Johno's starting....Kidney's a smart guy, though (brighter than EOS, for sure...), so I hope he knows what he's doing.

    By Anonymous flapjack, at November 26, 2009 1:14 am  

  • As for Kearney's double movement...I remember there being some speculation regarding Bowe's try in the 08 (?) 6N - one of the loveliest looking tries ever scored from that little flick pass from ROG:

    http://rugbydump.blogspot.com/2008/02/incredible-hands-for-tommy-bowe-try-vs.html

    By Anonymous flapjack, at November 26, 2009 1:17 am  

  • Sorry Flapjack you don't have to be from Dublin to believe in Sexton, I do believe DK is from Cork.
    You're right about the experience though, he is short on it but it's vital he gets it now and gets used to test matches against SH opposition in the next couple of years. When is a good time to get your first test against South Africa? Now is, I think.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at November 26, 2009 4:19 am  

  • There's no rows on this thread...
    Ireland are going to smack SA up on Saturday! Steyne is gonna get his ass handed to him! Matfield is gonna be sucking cock by the end of the game. Ireland to win by three hundred and ninety points, SA to remain a third world country.

    By Anonymous Bryan habana., at November 26, 2009 1:12 pm  

  • The comment above was probably writen by BOD. Its okay Brian, the IRB will make sure Ireland will qualify for the next world cup. Lets just hope they make it past the group stages this time.

    IRB

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at November 26, 2009 4:24 pm  

  • The boks are gana smash ireland into next year and all the way back again!

    TEAM OF THE YEAR - BOKS ( no other comes close!!!)

    Have you seen that bok side for SAT???? It's ok to back out now if you like ireland, or you could just ask the ref to tell JS to speak to his players again.....

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at November 26, 2009 8:40 pm  

  • I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry...

    By Anonymous Ronan O Gara, at November 26, 2009 8:41 pm  

  • ^ still didn't get you a place in the side mate!

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at November 26, 2009 8:41 pm  

  • what does "gana" mean?

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at November 27, 2009 12:12 am  

  • Well, one of the commentators has an incredibly gay tone, he lookjs as if turned on by rugby- or rugbiers

    By Anonymous Joost, at November 27, 2009 5:09 pm  

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