RUGBY
Heaslip leads Ireland to pre World Cup victory
By Daire Walsh
A FIRST-HALF scoring blitz proved decisive at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff on Sunday afternoon, when Ireland enjoyed a winning start to their World Cup warm-up series against Warren Gatland’s Wales.
Suncroft’s Fergus McFadden was a welcome addition to the Irish back-three (alongside Munster full-back Felix Jones and Andrew Trimble), and in the absence of the evergreen Paul O’Connell, Jamie Heaslip of Naas assumed the role of stand-in captain.
Indeed, it was the Leinster stalwart who eventually opened the scoring, via excellent approach work by Eoin Reddan, McFadden, Earls and Ulster centre Darren Cave.
Cave was one of a number of fringe players hoping to impress head coach Joe Schmidt, and after his provincial team-mate Paddy Jackson had extended Ireland’s lead with an 18th minute penalty, he broke through for a well-worked converted try in the second-quarter.
The visitors continued to threaten as the half progressed, and following another Jackson three-pointer, the impressive Earls registered Ireland’s third try of the opening period. There was some solace for Wales prior to the interval when hooker Richard Hibbard crossed the whitewash for a try that was converted by James Hook, but courtesy of their 18-point buffer (25-7), Ireland were in pole position for their fifth competitive triumph of 2015.
Ireland were offered a temporary numerical advantage in the opening moments after the restart, when Welsh flanker Ross Moriarty was sin-binned for a high challenge on Simon Zebo, who was subsequently forced into touch at the end of an enterprising move involving Heaslip, Richardt Strauss and Iain Henderson.
Donnacha Ryan was also making an impact on his first international appearance since March 2013, and owing to good work from the Munster lock in the line-out, Reddan and Tommy O’Donnell created a platform for Ireland’s fourth try of the day.
It was the energetic Zebo who broke through on this occasion, and he turned provider for his side’s concluding score of the contest 54 minutes in. When he last featured in the starting line-up for an international test – against Georgia in last November’s Guinness Series – Jones contributed a brace of tries to Ireland’s cause, and via some excellent build-up play from his Munster compatriot, he added his third touchdown for the Green Army.
The conversion attempts for both of these second-half tries were wide of the mark, but the remainder of the tie was, nevertheless, a damage limitation exercise for Wales. To their credit, they did add five-pointers from Justin Tipuric and Alex Cuthbert in the final-quarter, but Ireland had reason to be satisfied with their eventual 35-21 success.
This was an ideal result for Ireland ahead of upcoming clashes against Scotland and Wales (again) at the Aviva Stadium on August 15 & August 29, and they will also face England at Twickenham on September 5 before their World Cup campaign begins.
Saturday’s result also provided a further boost to Ireland’s growing reputation under Schmidt, as it now means that (following South Africa’s surprise defeat to Argentina) they have moved up to second place in the World Rankings.