Irish get appetite back

Ireland weren't exactly swinging from the chandeliers as they made their way in already sweat-soaked changed T-shirts from the away dressing-room at Singer Family Park for showers back in the nearby team hotel. In part this was because they wouldn't have had the energy to, but perhaps also because they were almost too good for it to count in a sense.

This wasn't so much haute cuisine, more gorging hungrily on junk food. It had to be done, for the last week brewing over the Pumas' defeat had left them famished. That setback still rankled but Ireland could only do what they had to, and did so in record style.

"Scoring 80 points was a reflection of the professionalism of the players. The secondhalf was pretty complete," admitted Warren Gatland of his team's 52-0 effort in the second period, complete with a strong rearguard action in their own 22 for about 10 minutes. "Most teams when you're up by that kind of score wouldn't be as hungry in defence but they didn't want to let a try in which shows a good sign of character I think."

The flip side of this record win is that more of the same might be expected next week in the concluding game of the tour against Canada. "That's going to put pressure on us and the players. They lost to South Africa by 51-18 (On Saturday in East London) which is not a bad result for them so I think they're going to pretty tough.

"It's great for Irish rugby to have another five new caps. The good thing about the new caps and everyone else is how hungry everyone was. Everyone knew that they were playing for a spot for next week and to put pressure on us for selection. I thought Frankie Sheahan did really well, we know the potential Marcus has, Geordan Murphy showed some nice touches and Guy Easterby has had a very good season for Ebbw Vale and I thought he was very good today. The guys coming back in like Eric Miller have given us food for thought. You've got to look at the opposition as well and the combinations, but it's a nice problem to have; a very nice problem to have."

Gatland admitted that he was concerned about the Irish line-out at half-time. "We were looking to get ball off the top and we missed four or five throws. I don't think our scrum was that good in the first-half. We put them under a lot of pressure in the secondhalf. I said to them at half-time `look, you guys are professionals. That's the same forward pack just about that we played in the World Cup and we destroyed their scrum.' We just needed to be a bit more ruthless in the second-half and we were. You want to play a complete 80 minutes and we still made mistakes and missed one or two tries that were there with a couple of handling errors, so still a few things to work on."

Keith Wood admitted he didn't throw well and, indeed, he scarcely enjoyed his 40 minutes on the pitch. "I was shattered. That sort of heat is mean. I derived little enjoyment out of that. I was shattered."

Mike Mullins looked altogether happier after scoring his first hat-trick of tries since he was 19 in a club match. "The three tries didn't matter. A good win for us was what we wanted. The tight five gave us the platform so you put it down to a team effort. I am the oldest out on the field today which is not a record I want to hold onto. I admit I did think about Woody's four against the USA in the World Cup for a moment."

Eddie O'Sullivan admitted that when you score over 80 points it's hard to be critical but being a coach, he did his best to. "I think in the first-half we weren't that happy that we were spoiling our own line-out ball by not connecting with our jumpers and were overcooking the drives and giving static ball to the backs. Once we got the ball away the backs ran pretty well. I have to say I'm very happy with it.

"I thought Guy Easterby had a really busy game, sniped and caught everybody, possibly even our own support, on the wrong foot. He's a good solid player who's not afraid to go for a gap and ties in their back-row. I have to say that Geordan Murphy showed a bit of class whenever he got the ball in space. A smashing footballer, that individual try he scored was world-class."

For the USA Eagles it was, as coach Duncan Hall admitted after previously presiding over two victories against Japan and Canada, an eye-opener. "Their power and pace was just too great. Ireland paid us a great compliment by giving us their best game and America deserves to hold its head up. You've got to play better opposition to make progress and for us to play a side as good as Ireland is fantastic. I guess they had their backs to the wall after the defeat to Argentina and the people back home should be proud of their performance."