RUGBY Ireland 'A' 49 England Saxons 22 NEIL BEST'S Ireland A side ended the England Saxons' domination of the Churchill Cup with an emphatic victory to bring a perfect end to Declan Kidney's first season as national coach.
Kidney and the senior coaching staff used the tournament in Colorado to explore Irish strength in depth and it has proved a resounding success.
Johnny Sexton has already announced his arrival as a future international, but the performances of centre Fergus McFadden (competition MVP) and fullback Felix Jones ensured Ireland were a constant threat. On this evidence, Best has reignited his Test career while Niall Ronan and Sean Cronin featured in a dominant forward display.
England laid down an initial marker, mangling the Irish scrum, an ominous development considering what South Africa did to the Lions on Saturday.
Rugby League convert Stephen Myler initially looked the part, the Northampton Saints fly-half landing two early penalties.
Sexton responded with a penalty and gradually began to dictate the tempo, showing a Ronan O’Gara cross-field kick is also part of his repertoire. Right wing Denis Hurley did well to gather but Bath fullback Nick Abendanon made a fine try-saving tackle.
From the resulting scrum, Ireland worked the phases with Cian Healy held up inches short before a clever Niall Ronan offload sent Devon Toner over for a 14th minute try. Sexton added the conversion but Myler kept the Saxons in touch with his third penalty as temperatures peaked at 117 degrees.
Ireland were playing excellent continuity rugby with Brian O’Driscoll’s understudy at Leinster, McFadden, making a clean line break, Sean Cronin rumbled a few extra yards before Isaac Boss crashed over. Sexton made it 17-9 and despite dominating the set pieces, the Saxons only points were coming off the boot of Myler after Tony Buckley was penalised for not holding his bind against David Flatman.
Some excellent fielding by Munster bound fullback Felix Jones laid the platform for another try, but the attack ended with Saxons prop Dan Cole sin-binned for not rolling away. Irish number eight Chris Henry joined him when Australian referee Matt Goddard harshly yellow carded him for retaliation.
Unperturbed, Sexton slipped into the pocket to nail a drop goal before needless hands in the ruck saw him binned a minute before half-time. Myler missed the resulting penalty.
Starting the second-half with 13 men to the Saxons 14, Ireland got the perfect start with Cronin brushing off Stuart Hooper and Tom Varndell for a try that put Ireland out of sight.
England responded immediately with Ben Woods repeating his Heineken Cup final trick to fend off Niall Ronan and club mate Johne Ronan for a try in the corner. Any chance of a revival ended, however, when Felix Jones raced over on 55 minutes. An attacking scrum came off a kick by Myler going dead down the other end. Jones could have been stopped if Saxons’ captain Phil Dowson wasn’t busy having a go at Best.
Jones split through the defence again moments later, after another nice piece of fielding, he offloaded to McFadden who did likewise to put Murphy over for a fifth try.
Danny Cipriani and Shane Geraghty were introduced by the Saxons, but despite such lofty reputations neither player could make an impact as Connacht captain John Muldoon bull-dozed over late on. A Tom Vardell try in injury time made no impact.
“We as coaches came over here to see what was coming through,” said Declan Kidney. “We are delighted. We told the boys it was their day and to show what they wanted out of it and they showed us that.”
Scoring sequence:2 mins: S Myler pen, 0-3; 4 mins: S Myler pen, 0-6; 7 mins: J Sexton pen, 3-6; 13 mins: D Toner try, 8-6; J Sexton conv, 10-6; 18 mins: S Myler pen, 10-9; 23 mins: I Boss try, 15-9; J Sexton conv, 17-9; 29 mins: S Myler pen, 17-12; 35 mins: J Sexton drp gl, 20-12. half-time. 40 mins: S Cronin try, 25-12; F McFadden conv, 27-12; 44 mins: B Woods try, 27-17; 55 mins: F Jones try, 32-17; 59 mins: J Murphy try, 37-17; F McFadden conv, 39-17; 64 mins: F McFadden pen, 42-17; 74 mins: J Muldoon try, 47-17; F McFadden conv, 49-17; 80 mins: T VArdell try, 49-22.
IRELAND 'A':F Jones; D Hurley, F McFadden, K Matthews, J Murphy; J Sexton, I Boss; C Healy, S Cronin, T Buckley; D Ryan, D Toner; N Best (capt), N Ronan, C Henry. Replacements:J Muldoon for C Henry (42 mins), D Fogarty for S Cronin (60 mins).
Tries:Toner, Boss, Cronin, Jones, J Murphy, Muldoon. Cons:Sexton 3, McFadden 2. Pens:Sexton 3.
ENGLAND SAXONS:N Abendanon; N Cato, D Waldouck, B Barritt, T Varndell; S Myler, M Young; D Flatman, R Webber, D Cole; S Hooper, N Kennedy; P Dowson (capt), B Woods, L Narraway.
Referee:M Goddard (Australia).
