Ireland too strong for Russia
KOBE: Ireland bagged five tries in a 35-0 victory over Russia last night in Kobe, showing signs they have regrouped from their shock upset to Japan last weekend.
Joe Schmidt’s men dominated possession and crossed the line three times in the first stanza for a 21-0 lead at Kobe Misaki Stadium (Noevir Stadium).
Rob Kearney opened the scoring in the first minute, and Ireland went on to claim a much-needed bonus point after losing to Japan 19-12 in Shizuoka. The victory moved Ireland back to the top of Pool A with 11 points from two wins and three bonus points. Japan are second with two nine points from two wins in two games.
Captaining Ireland for the first time, Johnny Sexton was perfect with three conversions, while replacement Jack Carty added two more after half-time.
Russia, led by head coach Lyn Jones, struggled with indiscipline as two of their players were sent to the sinbin and conceded 10 penalties.
Just as in the other games in Kobe, the humidity inside the roofed venue provided a challenge to both sides. Players made a series of handling errors and even slipped on the turf at times.
Kearny sprinted for the first try of the day, dotting down after Luke McGrath passed the ball from halfway. Sexton set up their second try about 10 minutes later, when Peter O’Mahony picked up the fly-half ’s clever grubber kick to cross under the posts.
Ireland went on to take advantage following the sin-binning of Bogdan Fedotko as Rhys Ruddock scored a fivepointer with Sexton adding the extras for a 21-0 lead at the break.
The Russian defence provided difficulties for Ireland in the second half, but wing Andrew Conway finally broke the stalemate in the 61st minute when he touched down after gathering an offload from Keith Earls.
In the 75th minute, Garry Ringrose scored the fifth try, but another effort less than five minutes later was rejected by television match officials.
While Jones said his team’s goal of his team was to bag tries and make the most of the experience of playing the Tier-1 team, they failed to convert every scoring opportunity, including a missed second-half penalty kick by Ramil Gaisin.
The next Pool A game is set for tomorrow at City of Toyota Stadium, where Japan play Samoa. A week later, Samoa and Ireland will square off in their final pool match.
Russia will finish pool play against Scotland on Oct 9 in Shizuoka before Japan face Scotland in the tournament’s final pool-round game just four days later in Yokohama.