Canada Come Away With Their Heads High After Facing Ireland

Ireland defeated Canada by a convincing score of 52-21 at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin on Saturday but it was not all easy going for Joe Schmidt’s men. Canada made the most of limited possession to score three tries with only sevens points separating the two teams until will into the second half.

An early attacking lineout presented Ireland with the ideal platform to score and they took full advantage. The maul was slowed but Kieran Marmion went blind, committing the last defender and popping to Keith Earls for the easy finish. Paddy Jackson’s conversion sailed through the posts from the wide angle to make it a seven-pointer.

With possession almost all Ireland the Canadian defense could only hold out for so long. Eventually the space came out wide and a Keith Earls offload to Jackson allowed the flyhalf the time to wing a soaring pass to Luke Marshall loitering on the wing and the cover had no chance to stop the strongly-built midfielder from diving into the corner. Jackson added another excellent conversion, this time from the right side of the pitch, to make it 14-0 after 23 minutes.

There was a hint of over-confidence from the Irish immediately after as they looked to run out of their own end from the restart. A poor pass from Marshall found the welcoming hands of DTH van der Merwe instead of Tiernan O’Halloran and the Canadian winger drove through to the line to give his team a score against the run of play. Gordon McRorie added the extras to make it a one-score game.

A glorious sight for fans of traditional Canadian forward strength came just a few minutes later. After controlled possession earned a penalty, Connor Braid opted for the corner. Ambition was met with execution as a picture perfect catch-and-drive put the Irish pack on the retreat. In piled some of the Canadians back for good measure and it was the unlikely sight of winger Taylor Paris who came up with the ball. McRorie emulated Jackson’s accuracy with a tricky conversion of his own to level the scores.

Just before the half Ireland got a break when some sloppy rucking from Canada spilled the ball and a terrific line from O’Halloran saw him slice through the defense and race more than 40 metres down the pitch to score Ireland’s third try. Jackson was again on target to give his side a slender lead heading into the intermission.

The Canadian scrum had started strongly but with fatigue setting in it was the Irish pack who rolled up their sleeves and began to take the ascendency. After one reset at a 5 metre scrum the Canadian scrum collapsed under pressure and the referee had no option but to award a penalty try.

There was enough gas in the tank for one more Canadian score. Clean lineout possession and quick hands from the midfield put Matt Evans in space and the fullback had just enough pace to make the corner. O’Halloran’s desperate tackle looked to have held Evans up in-goal but the TMO review showed that the ball was indeed grounded and the try was awarded. McRorie’s best kick of the day from nearly the left touchline split the posts and there was a glimmer of hope but plenty of time still to play.

A big tackle from Earls on van der Merwe dislodged the ball from the restart and after a few quick phases Dillane replied to restore Irish momentum. With a second penalty try set to come from the scrum Kieran Marmion fell on the ball for Ireland’s sixth try and any thoughts of a comeback were dashed. O’Halloran got his second with a single from James Tracy on debut to stretch the margin before the full-time whistle.

Ireland now turn their sights on the rematch against the All Blacks in Dublin next Saturday. Canada will take some confidence from the opening 55 minutes especially and will fancy their chances against the very different challenge of Romania in Bucharest.

 

SCORING

IRELAND 52
Tries – K. Earls (6′), L. Marshall (22′), T. O’Halloran 2 (38′, 77′), Penalty try (45′), U. Dillane (59′), K. Marmion (65′), J. Tracy (80′)
Cons – P. Jackson 6 (7′, 23′, 39′, 45′, 60′, 66′)

CANADA 21
Tries – D. van der Merwe (24′), T. Paris (29′), M. Evans (56′)
Cons – G. McRorie 3 (25′, 30′, 57′)

 

TEAMS

IRELAND
1 Cian Healy (17 David Kilcoyne 57′) 2 Sean Cronin (16 James Tracy 60′) 3 Finlay Bealham (18 John Ryan 48′) 4 Ultan Dillane (19 Donnacha Ryan 73′) 5 Billy Holland 6 Peter O’Mahony (capt.) 7 Sean O’Brien (20 Dan Leavy 68′) 8 Jack O’Donoghue 9 Kieran Marmion (21 Luke McGrath 66′) 10 Paddy Jackson (22 Joey Carbery 68′) 11 Keith Earls 12 Luke Marshall 13 Garry Ringrose 14 Craig Gilroy (23 Niyi Adeolokun 66′) 15 Tiernan O’Halloran

CANADA
1 Djustice Sears-Duru (17 Rob Brouwer 70′) 2 Ray Barkwill (16 Eric Howard 62′-68′, 75′) 3 Jake Ilnicki (18 Matt Tierney 78′) 4 Brett Beukeboom 5 Evan Olmstead 6 Kyle Baillie 7 Lucas Rumball (20 Matt Heaton 67′) 8 Aaron Carpenter (capt.) (19 Admir Cejvanovic 46′) 9 Gordon McRorie (21 Phil Mack 70′) 10 Connor Braid 11 Taylor Paris 12 Ciaran Hearn (23 Nick Blevins 68′) 13 Conor Trainor 14 DTH van der Merwe 15 Matt Evans

Not used: 22 Patrick Parfrey

 

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Marius van der Westhuizen (SARU)
Assistants: Matthew Carley (RFU) & Thoams Carabas (FFR)
TMO: Gareth Simmonds (WRU)