Spain 24 Ireland XV 61
Ireland by numbers. Nine tries, eight conversions, three yellow cards, the visitors played 28 minutes of the match a man down as Ruadhán Quinn, Alex Soroka and Cathal Forde all fell afoul of Tomás Bertazza, the Uruguayan referee slightly whistle-happy and hair-trigger in his carding.
It added a layer of jeopardy, periodically, although the result was a foregone conclusion a long way out from the final whistle.
Ireland captain Tom Stewart confirmed afterwards that the squad had two-and-a-half training sessions to prepare for the game and from that perspective they managed to produce a more than decent performance, especially in the opening 40 minutes.
Spain scored three tries from the set piece, two from lineout mauls and one off the back of a scrum that was in the ascendant. The home side’s other try, a second for number eight Ikain Imaz – flanker Vincente Boronat also grabbed a brace – came off the back of concerted pressure when Ireland once again found themselves short-handed numerically.
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The facility to work inside channels and be robust and direct in possession caused frequent problems for the Irish defence and there was no doubting Spain’s superiority when it came to raw grunt in the set piece.
Ireland though dominated for large tranches and once they came to appreciate a requirement to fix defenders rather than just simply flinging wide passes, they produced passages of cracking rugby, fluent, dexterous and athletic, overseen by the outstanding Harry Byrne.
The Irish outhalf had a super game, kicking eight from nine attempts off the tee – he hit the post with the other attempt – but it was his general game management that was most impressive. Variety was a key component as he shifted the point of attack, all the while composed in his distribution.
His halfback partner Ben Murphy served Byrne well, kept a good tempo to his team’s patterns and made intelligent decisions in choosing which side of the breakdown to attack.
Dan Kelly and Jude Postlethwaite excelled individually and collectively in the midfield, their ability to both beat the tackle and guarantee a north-south orientation kept the team nicely aligned. It was heartening to see two young centres, Postlethwaite (23) and Kelly (24) take the opportunity to impress.
Banking on the young Ulsterman winning collisions brought dividends for team-mates. While Ireland were guilty of overplaying at times and being circumspect rather than direct, they figured out how to create space and exploit it.
Rob Baloucoune provided two classically acrobatic finishes in the corner, underlining his pace and athleticism, while on the other wing, Shayne Bolton, who also scored a try, was a handful for the Spanish defence.
Darragh Murray ran the Irish lineout with a calm efficiency, showed nice footwork for his early try and was tireless in working for his team-mates, while Alex Soroka was productive in everything he did, and formed part of an effective backrow alongside Quinn and Paul Boyle, both of whom scored tries.
Loosehead prop Michael Milne added a typical close-range, power surge to his highlights reel of tries. The rest of the pack chipped in, Evan O’Connell, Tom O’Toole, and the lively Stewart, all enjoying a moment here and there, while David McCann was the pick of the bench, although Scott Wilson might argue against that assertion as a try scorer.
Ireland head coach Cullie Tucker said that he “I thought we took our chances well in the first half, scored some good tries.” The visitors were more cohesive in those 40 minutes, as they scored six of their nine tries.
As an exercise it was worthwhile, and while the intel going back to Andy Farrell and the senior coaching cohort won’t be revelatory, it will confirm some of the findings from the two Tests during the summer. An Ireland XV is expected to play England A in Thomond Park on the first weekend of the Six Nations.
Scoring sequence 8 mins: Murray try, Byrne conversion, 0-7; 12: Boronat try, 5-7; 17: Milne try, Byrne conversion, 5-14; 22: Postlethwaite try, Byrne conversion, 5-21; 27: Baloucoune try, Byrne conversion, 5-28; 33: Boronat try, 10-28; 35: Baloucoune try, Byrne conversion, 10-35; 40: Boyle try, Byrne conversion, 5-42. Half-time: 5-42. 43: Murphy try, Byrne conversion, 10-49; 48: Imaz try, Vinuesa conversion, 17-49; 52: Bolton try, 17-54; 66: Wilson try, Byrne conversion, 17-61; 79: Imaz try, Saleta conversion, 24-61.
Spain: J Wessel Bell; M Cian, I Mateu, G López Bontempo, A Carmona; G Vinuesa, E Bay; T Feteu, S Ovejero, J Zabala (capt); M Foulds, I Pineiro; M Ariceta, V Boronat, E Imaz. Replacements: A Saleta for Ariceta 45 mins; Á García for Ovejero 45 mins; M Triki for Boronat 50 mins; L Richardis for López Bontempo 50 mins; J Domínguez for Zabala 62 mins; N Infer for Bay 64 mins; I Urazza for Foulds 66 mins.
Ireland XV: M Lowry (Ulster); R Baloucoune (Ulster), J Postlethwaite (Ulster), D Kelly (Munster), S Bolton (Connacht); H Byrne (Leinster), B Murphy (Connacht); M Milne (Munster), T Stewart (Ulster, capt), T O’Toole (Ulster); E O’Connell (Munster), D Murray (Connacht); A Soroka (Clontarf/Leinster), R Quinn (Munster), P Boyle (Connacht). Replacements: Z Ward (Ulster) for Lowry 37 mins; A Usanov (Leinster) for Milne 53 mins; D Mangan (Leinster) for O’Connell 53 mins; D McCann (Ulster) for Soroka 57 mins; N Doak (Ulster) for Murphy 58 mins; C Forde (Connacht) for Kelly 58 mins; S Wilson (Ulster) for O’Toole 66 mins; L Barron (Munster) for Quinn 70 mins.
Yellow card: R Quinn (Ireland) 12 mins. A Soroka (Ireland) 47 mins. C Forde (Ireland) 72 mins.
Referee: Tomás Bertazza (Uruguay).
