Murray Kinsella reports from Wembley
THERE WERE STRONG individual performances across the park from Ireland’s players as they ran in six tries in their 44-10 win over Romania at Wembley, leaving Joe Schmidt with some difficult selection decisions ahead.
Ireland take on Italy at Olympic Park next Sunday in their third pool game of the World Cup, a fixture that has long been seen as the ideal time for Schmidt to fully unleash his first-choice XV.
There were always likely to be demanding calls for the Kiwi head coach to make in the back three, but that particular dilemma has only increased after this comfortable win over the Romanians.
Rob Kearney’s glute/hip issue complicates the matter somewhat, Simon Zebo the obvious starter at fullback if Kearney does not recover, while out on the wings Dave Kearney, Keith Earls, Tommy Bowe and Luke Fitzgerald are all strong candidates.
In midfield, the expected return of Robbie Henshaw will be a relief for Ireland, but Darren Cave was excellent against Lyn Howells’ Romania, shifting out to the 13 role later in the game.
I thought there was a number of players that performed really well and will create a bit of a selection headache for us leading into Italy,” said Schmidt. “The midfield pairing (of Jared Payne and Cave) went well.
“I felt Darren Cave got through a power of work as well as making a couple of line breaks. Jared Payne, again. I thought Simon Zebo did really well. His pass for Keith Earls’ (first) try was exceptional as was Keith’s acceleration to get in at the corner.”
Earls’ second score soon after half time saw him equal Brian O’Driscoll’s record of seven World Cup tries for Ireland, and Schmidt suggested that the Limerick man will be pleased to be in such prestigious company.
“I know Keith well enough to know that he’ll be fully focused on what it means for the team,” said Schmidt.
“I thought he took the tries well and I think he’s played really well in the two games we’ve played so far, so he’ll just be focused on that and hoping that he can continue to deliver that for the team.
“I guess it’s nice for him to be mentioned in the same sentence as Brian O’Driscoll, because I suppose that’s the standard that any back in an Irish backline wants to aspire.”
On the opposite wing, Bowe looked more like the powerful and confident player Ireland fans have cherished in recent years. His aerial game was much improved, one overhead catch and inside pass to Zebo standing out, while his defence was strong.
The two tries Bowe scored were impressive finishes, particularly the first one. That first-half score came in the right corner after Ireland had failed to tie down the drifting Romania defenders on the inside.
“We certainly didn’t give him a kick,” said Schmidt of Bowe’s response to his recent bad form. “He certainly kickstarts himself. I thought he had a super game. He finished a try in the corner really well.
“I thought he was incredibly strong in the air. He made a fantastic low tackle to allow Jared Payne to get in over the ball and make a turnover in the second-half. So, on both sides of the ball, I felt that Tommy was really good today.”
It wasn’t all about the backline in Wembley, however, with Schmidt also picking out tighthead Nathan White, loosehead Cian Healy, lock Devin Toner and back rows Jamie Heaslip and Chris Henry for praise.
“Up front, Nathan White did a really good job and it’s fantastic to have Cian taking the ball forward,” said Schmidt. “He did lose a couple in the 22 which will frustrate him, but each step he takes is a bit positive for us.
Dev Toner responded to a bit of pressure really well. I thought he called the lineouts well. He physically dominated the lineout well. In the loose, I think the longer the game went on, the more Chris Henry got into it and got a couple of smart turnovers.
“To be honest, I felt Jamie led from the front. His early carries were really strong and he certainly won the collisions when he did carry and allowed us to get onto the front foot.”
A squad of 31 players with strong individual form throughout it. It’s been a positive beginning for Ireland at the World Cup.
I don’t condone racist comments in any shape or form but a person cannot be imprisioned for a racist comment. it is disgraceful what was said but at the end of the day that person has the right to his opinion even if it is a disgusting one. the best thing that can be done is the comment removed and the person in question should be banned from games by the club.
Are you familiar with “Prohibition of Incitement To Hatred Act (1989)” – http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1989/en/act/pub/0019/print.html ? It has been used to charge and imprison people who have made racist comments though it doesn’t appear to have been successfully prosecuted where the comments were made online.
We need to smash racism wherever we see it. Disgusted at some of the casual acceptance of this kind of behaviour.
Racism is blown out of proportion in this country.. simply ignoring it in cases like this is the best thing to do. If this was left go a few twitter followers of this person would have been the only people to see it.. now with the publicity attached hundreds of thousands of people have seen it.
I’m glad the racists have been exposed and hopefully banned from Shamrock Rovers. Racism needs to be nipped in the bud because it spreads among idiots very quickly. Shamrock Rovers fans take enough stick without having a racist label attached to them.
I’m glad the racists have been exposed and hopefully banned from Shamrock Rovers. Racism needs to be nipped in the bud because it spreads among idiots very quickly. Shamrock Rovers fans take enough stick without having a racist label attached to them because of a few uneducated simpletons.
Heard you the first time WS
Politicians should also be called to answer if they contribute to racist incitement
I dont agree with the tweet, dont even know who the player is, but being racist on the internet shouldnt be a crime. Get the post deleted …..problem solved.
all cars should be blue……..
@ stephen : just because it’s the internet doesn’t give you license to be a racist p$&#k , why should you be allowed to abuse people from behind a keyboard and once it’s deleted ‘everything is grand again’ ??
The gas part is, if the fan said it to the players face AND kicked the sh1ite out of him – nothing would have happened!! But be racist online?! Oh god forbid…
Mr Hamstrings, have you ever heard of the word “Assault”?
You can’t just pretend a racist comment didn’t happen once it has been deleted! Imagine how the player feels about an insult like that being thrown at him? If club officials ignored it, it would be adding insult to injury.
Imagine how the player feels now with it going out on every news wire in the country. Its a horrible comment, but the media now add serious injury to insult.
Agreed that its a horrible comment and would probably be better for the guy if it wasn’t in the public eye but it HAD to be reported to the Guards.
Without a doubt. No question of reporting it to the guards.
You have to laugh at the people saying delete it and it’s grand. Funny how they’re all white. You do realise the lad who received this tweet is black? Do you think he’s sitting at home going, “ah sure, he deleted it, I feel ok now”? Racism is not something to be swept under the carpet, the people who are saying we should do that obviously have no clue what it’s like to be discriminated against. Racism is not an opinion, it’s disgusting bigotry and it harms the victim or victims. Extreme levels of naivety from some people.
Here mick Lennon I was in tallagh stadium not so long ago and I’ve heard rovers fans abuse Gilbert in clear ear shot of stewards and it has been let go so about time they got caught and hopefully get prosecuted !
also a further point, any abuse that Gilbert has received during games were due to his ability as a footballer and had nothing to do with the colour of his skin
i dont know what you mean?
could have been a bohs supporter tweeted it
Same old rovers always trying to blame someone else, your club has seen the tweet, anyone that follows football in Ireland can see the tweet, and the person that posted it had rovers comments on their page going back a couple of months. There is even screen shots to prove them. Take the blame for once and stop trying to deflect the fact that the club has racist problems that have been going on for a number of years.
Gilbert should feel worse about his “performances” this year rather than this one incident…also its sad that LOI articles are constantly put up on this site, but only this one, a bad new story, has attracted significant attention and comment
Ok sort the racist thing out and them deport him
this all stems from the racist remarks made in the UK.
some journalist has seen the tweet and now is spinning it to try and make an Irish version of the story..
God save us with this over the top control of what individuals do.. the racist like tweet reference say that the person involved shows poor judgement of their view of the world and others in it if it is in fact a genuine poster and not a journalist running a scam for headlines sake….
Either way I’m not sure my non white colleges will give the comment as much thought as farting in private…. The comment deserves as much attention as that… Now can we all get on with our lives as we always have done…..
When it’s Bohs, Pat’s or anyone else there’s a serious racism problem among League of Ireland fans.
When it’s Rovers it’s just a silly schoolgirl whose actions shouldn’t represent the rest of the fans.
Rovers have handled it awfully going so public with it. It’s gone from doing the rounds among rival forums and being a bit of slagging ammo to becoming a national news story. Why did they feel the need to???
For what it’s worth I don’t think there is a racism problem in the LOI. When the issue of race does crop up it is usually Rovers though. Monkey Chants at Joey Ndo in Dalymount, Nazi salutes in front of their flag on European away trips, Turner and Zayed and the reaction to that incident.
That’s also not to say that all Rovers fans are racists. To do so would be as bigoted as the racist comments themselves.
There are rumours that Gilbert gave a thumbs down whist holding the crest of his jersey and made wa**er gestures towards a section of Rovers fans during the cup final on Saturday.
I would bet money that the girl in question sent that tweet in the heat of the moment from her phone right when that happened.
I don’t condone it or any racism for a second, I’m merely pointing out that that’s the problem with the likes of Twitter being so accessible.
The correct thing to do would have been to privately send a copper (I’m sure there’s at least one Rovers fan policeman) round to her house and put the absolute fear of god into her. I’m sure the Rovers fans more so than the club itself have their own way of weeding out racists.
did you send it Dave,your being very defensive and blaming rovers,sounds like your trying to deflect the spotlight from bohs fans and have innocent rovers fans tarnished
so much for freedom of speech.
So your a racist now Father