IRFU News
British & Irish Lions
• What did the South Africans ever do for us?
Ireland Rugby
Five Tries! Ireland 39 – 14 Barbarians
Shane Horgan lead from the front as stand-in captain grabbing two tries as Ireland secured a comfortable win over the Baa Baa’s at Kingsholm.
IRELAND 39 BARBARIANS 14, Kingsholm, Gloucester (Att: 10,800)
Scorers: Ireland: Tries: Tommy Bowe, Shane Horgan 2, Jamie Heaslip 2; Cons: Paddy Wallace 4; Pens: Paddy Wallace 2
Barbarians: Tries: Craig Newby, Pedrie Wannenburg; Cons: Peter Hewat 2
Not perfect, in fact far from it – but very, very encouraging for a non-cap game. A number of newcomers wanted to show their worth and thats exactly what they did – making the Barbarians look disorganised at times. The biggest plus point is to come away with no injuries (last time they played I reland lost the game 31-30 and Brian O’Driscoll, Girvan Dempsey, Geordan Murphy and Jeremy Davidson to injury).
O’Driscoll was a late withdrawal due to a bereavement and Duffy took his place in the squad, with Shane Horgan taking over the Captaincy.
Shane Jennings kept the ball in on the wing, before Paddy Wallace spun out a pass for Tommy Bowe whilst Duffy made the decoy – leaving the Barbarians wide-open – Bowe stepped past Sosene Anesi and got the try.
Wallace converted and added a quick penalty to make it 10-0.
The Baa Baas’ ball carriers often looked without support, but Stephen Larkham and Michael Classens looked lively, with a solid scrum and Lesley Vainikolo looking dangerous we expected more, but all we got was Ireland adding to their lead!!
Mike Ross’ senior debut ended early with an injury in the 18th-minute, with Tom Court, another uncapped player, replacing him.
Stephen Ferris, blocked a clearance kick from Larkham, Jamie Heaslip scooped it up and Luke Fitzgerald set off on a run.
Quick lineout ball saw the Baa Baas napping and the ball switched to the left, Jennings straigtened the line, Fitgzerald (involved again and looking completely at home in an international) tied up a defender offloading to Horgan, Horgan powered past Morgan Turinui and Craig Newby to go over the line. Wallace added the left conversion to take things to 17-0.
A brief threat through Vainikolo saw Heaslip ground the big England winger, with Ireland regrouping helped by Bob Casey. Still attacking, Rob Kearney grabbed the intercept out of the a ruck and Bowe was soon well over the halfway line. Anesi hauled him down, good hands and cool heads from Kearney, Rory Best and Wallace saw Horgan grab his second.
24-0 down, the Barbarians started to get some possession at the half-hour mark. The crowd roared as Leinster favourite Ollie Le Roux, burst forward with his South African colleague Jaco Pretorius.
Despite the upturn in performance Ireland could and should have got a couple more tries before half time. As it was Larkham’s saving kick downfield and the resulting messy lineout saw New Zealander Newby go over for the Barbarians first try and injure himself in the process – stretchered off as the half ended 24-7.
Isaac Boss earned himself ten minutes in the sin-bin early in the second half, after he deliberately got in the way of a pass from his opposite Claasens, yet Ireland dug deep down to ten men and started to add points to their existing lead.
Wallace opened the scoring kicking a penalty, before Young began to offload the Barbarians bench – a move that backfired…
O’Kelly the giant Leinster lock sprang through a gap and took play from the Irish 22 over the halfway, linking up with Fitzgerald as the ball move switly out left. Rory Best put Kearney into space and Heaslip dived over the line.
Wallace’s conversion made it 34-7 as Ireland threw on their replacements Ryan Caldwell, Neil Best, Girvan Dempsey and Bernard Jackman.
Best and Cobus Visagie’s altercation caused tempers (and Visagie’s right eye!) to flare, and after a bit of handbags they stepped inside Duffy and South African Pedrie Wannenburg dotted down to the right of the posts.
Hewat converted and the Baa Baa’s were on the attack again, but Kearney who had made his mark nailed Turinui with a fine tackle.
Tired legs and bodies opened the game as Dempsey at full-back set of an excellent run, and Heaslip was stopped just short of the line. However he wasn’t finished yet.- before further shake ups for Ireland as Jonathan Sexton came on at out-half with Wallace moving into the centre and Frank Murphy also got a short run-out at scrum half.
The final try came as Jackman pounced on a loose ball and set Court charging down the wing with Murphy in support, a linkup with Heaslip sealed the deal (although the conversion robbed Wallace of is 100% record).
All in all a pleasing performance for Bradley’s Munster-less side!
TIME LINE: 5 minutes – Ireland try: Tommy Bowe – 5-0; conversion: Paddy Wallace – 7-0; 10 mins – Ireland penalty: Paddy Wallace – 10-0; 21 mins – Ireland try: Shane Horgan – 15-0; conversion: Paddy Wallace – 17-0; 25 mins – Ireland try: Shane Horgan – 22-0; conversion: Paddy Wallace – 24-0; 40+2 mins – Barbarians try: Craig Newby – 24-5; conversion: Peter Newby – 24-7; Half-time – Ireland 24 Barbarians 7; 46 mins – Ireland sin-binning: Isaac Boss (deliberate offside); 54 mins – Ireland penalty: Paddy Wallace – 27-7; 58 mins – Ireland try: Jamie Heaslip – 32-7; conversion: Paddy Wallace – 34-7; 69 mins – Barbarians try: Pedrie Wannenburg – 34-12; conversion: Peter Hewat – 34-14; 80+1 mins – Ireland try: Jamie Heaslip – 39-14; conversion: missed by Paddy Wallace – 39-14; Full-time – Ireland 39 Barbarians 14
IRELAND: Rob Kearney (UCD/Leinster); Shane Horgan (Boyne/Leinster) (capt), Luke Fitzgerald (Blackrock College/Leinster), Gavin Duffy (Galwegians/Connacht), Tommy Bowe (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster); Paddy Wallace (Ballymena/Ulster), Isaac Boss (Ballymena/Ulster); Bryan Young (Ballymena/Ulster), Rory Best (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster), Mike Ross (Harlequins), Bob Casey (London Irish), Malcolm O’Kelly (St. Mary’s College/Leinster), Stephen Ferris (Dungannon/Ulster), Shane Jennings (St. Mary’s College/Leinster), Jamie Heaslip (Clontarf/Leinster).
Replacements used: Tom Court (Ballymena/Ulster) for Ross (18 mins), Ryan Caldwell (Dungannon/Ulster) for O’Kelly, Neil Best (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster) for Ferris (both 60), Girvan Dempsey (Terenure College/Leinster) for Fitzgerald (63), Bernard Jackman (Clontarf/Leinster) for R Best (67), Jonathan Sexton (St. Mary’s College/Leinster) for Horgan (79), Frank Murphy (Leicester) for Boss (80).
BARBARIANS: Peter Hewat (London Irish); Sosene Anesi (Chiefs & New Zealand), Morgan Turinui (Reds & Australia) (capt), Jaco Pretorius (Stormers & South Africa), Lesley Vainikolo (Gloucester & England); Stephen Larkham (Australia), Michael Claassens (Bath & South Africa); Ollie Le Roux (Leinster & South Africa), Sebastien Bruno (Sale Sharks & France), Cobus Visagie (Saracens & South Africa), Kris Chesney (Saracens), Ross Skeate (Stormers), Craig Newby (Highlanders & New Zealand), David Croft (Reds & Australia), Pedrie Wannenburg (Blue Bulls & South Africa).
Replacements used: Mitchell Chapman (Brumbies) for Newby (half-time), Glen Jackson (Saracens) for Larkham (45 mins), Mark Regan (Bristol & England) for Bruno, Patrice Collazo (Gloucester & France) for Le Roux (both 55), Santiago Dellape (Biarritz & Italy) for Chesney (56), Le Roux for Visagie (67), Andy Gomarsall (Harlequins & England) for Claassens (68), Tyrone Smith (Brumbies) for Hewat (79).
Referee: Andrew Small (England)