Slick Irish too strong for Russia
Ireland registered a resounding 62-12 victory over a brave Russian side that gave everything but were ultimately outgunned in their Pool C World Cup match in Rotorua on Sunday.
Ireland, with only six players backing up from the memorable 15-6 upset of the Wallabies at Eden Park last weekend, scored nine tries to two to maintain their three-point lead over Australia in Pool C heading into the final group games.
A mass of green among the 25 661 capacity Rotorua International Stadium crowd generated a virtual ‘home’ ground atmosphere for Ireland.
Ireland 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 put the Russian defence to the test early with 14 phases on their tryline before they lost flyhalf Konstantin Rachkov to the sin bin for a deliberate knock down.
In the time Rachkov was off the field Ireland cashed in with 14 points from converted tries to Fergus McFadden off an O’Gara kick and outstanding open-side flanker Sean O’Brien.
O’Gara was at the heart of the Irish attacks and his goalkicking 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 scrumhalf 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 half-time lead.
O’Gara’s sideline conversion attempt struck an upright costing him an unblemished goalkicking 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 hit back when fullback Vasily Artemyev scored a classy try, slicing through and then standing up opposite number Rob Kearney to score in the 51st minute.
The Russians had another ‘victory’ when wing 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 Rob Kearney, Shane Jennings and Tony Buckley.
Russia, playing at their first World Cup, finish their participation against the Wallabies in Nelson next Saturday.
Man of the Match: Veteran Irish flyhalf Ronan O’Gara controlled the game superbly. His goal-kicking was accurate and he released his backline well, mixing up his play and making a strong case for his inclusion in the first-choice team.
Moment of the Match: The Irish scored some great tries but the best were from Russia. Their first was impressive but the second was the highlight of the encounter. After a line-out just inside Ireland territory they sent it down the backline at pace and fullback Vasily Artemyev outstripped the Irish defence before giving it to 20-year-old right wing Denis Simplikevich who still had some work to do and did well to finish in the corner.
Villain of the Match: Russian flyhalf Konstantin Rachkov’s early yellow card put his team under pressure and allowed Ireland to get the flying start they were looking for.
The scorers:
For Ireland:
Tries: McFadden, O’Brien, Boss, Earls, Trimble, Kearney, Jennings, Buckley
Cons: O’Gara 6, Sexton
Pens: O’Gara
For Russia:
Tries: Artemyev, Simplikevich
Con: Rachkov
Yellow card(s): Konstantin Rachkov (Russia, eighth minute)
The teams:
Ireland: 15 Robert 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 (captain), 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 (captain), 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)
TMO: Giulio De Santis (Italy)
