THE blinding pace of Ulster left wing Jan Cunningham left the English Universities on the back foot at College Park yesterday. The A international used his undoubted ability to prise open the unsuspecting visitors' defence for two of the five Irish fries.
It was no coincidence that three back row forwards, Robert Dunlop, Denis Finn and replacement Mick O'Driscoll, were the other Irish fry scorers. They made a mockery of the more deliberate, plodding way forward chosen by the English side. England tried to slow the pace of the game, but they could never assert the reasonable control needed to enable them to carry out their plan to capitalise on the greater bulk of their pack.
Cunningham's nimble dexterity provided the Irish with their first real taste of success after 34 minutes. Number eight Finn's bold and unexpected pass from the base of a scrum left the wing one on one with his direct opponent. A feint inside and swerve to the outside took him to the line. With the immaculate John O'Mahony kicking two earlier penalties, the home side led 11-3 at the break.
On the turnover, Finn's 41st minute dash from a maul 20 metres out seemed to break the English spirit. O'Mahony's conversion made it 18-3, and from there on, it was matter of by how much the Irish would win.
The comfort of their victory was illustrated by the five substitutions coach Ray Pattison made in the final quarter.
With the Welsh Universities going the way of the English by 19-11, the Irish will have ambitions of beating their Scottish counterparts in Edinburgh and in doing so bring at least one Triple Crown home.
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