Ireland enjoy five-try romp
Centre Keith Earls scored two of Ireland's five tries as the Six Nations champions ran up a 41-6 victory over Fiji.
Last Updated: 22/11/09 10:45am
Centre Keith Earls scored two of Ireland's five tries as the Six Nations champions ran up a 41-6 victory over Fiji at the Royal Dublin Showground.
The hosts only led 13-3 at the break but a try from Brian O'Driscoll five minutes into the second period sparked a glut of points for Declan Kidney's side.
Earls, full-back Rob Kearney and Shane Horgan added further scores after the break while debutant Jonathan Sexton converted all five scores and added two first-half penalties to return a personal 16-point haul.
Fiji's Nicky Little scored his side's only points with a penalty either side of the break as Ireland warmed for next week's big test against South Africa in style.
Sexton, looking to put pressure on Ronan O'Gara for Ireland's No.10 shirt, made the ideal start as he followed a confident catch and run by putting Ireland ahead on eight minutes with his first penalty.
He then produced a well-judged cross kick which Earls gathered, but Kearney was subsequently held up just short of the line.
But it proved a temporary reprieve for the Fijians as moments later Eoin Reddan fed Earls who stormed over to touch down next to the posts following a scrum, Sexton adding the extras.
Fiji fly-half Nicky Little did reduce the deficit to 10-3 with a well-struck penalty and the visitors then enjoyed their best spell of the match with Ireland having to come up with a big scrum close to their line to keep their opponents at bay.
But having seen off that danger, Ireland responded and their renewed pressure told just before half-time with Sexton landing his second penalty to put them 13-3 ahead at the interval.
Little landed his second penalty shortly after the restart to offer Fiji hope once more, but the number ten was then at fault as they conceded a frustrating try with Little seeing O'Driscoll intercept his pass and run 40 metres to score with Sexton's conversion giving Ireland a 20-6 advantage and some breathing space.
Ireland moved up a gear in the final quarter and notched their third score when a well-worked move saw the ball shifted smoothly along the back division for Earls to go over for his second try in the corner.
Sexton slotted the difficult conversion and Kearney and Horgan gave the final scoreline some real gloss as they went over for late tries with the accurate Sexton landing both conversions from the touchline.
