EMERGING IRELAND SCORED seven tries as they beat Uruguay 51-3 at the IRB Nations Cup in Bucharest this afternoon.
Craig Gilroy, Mick Kearney, Paddy Butler [2], Billy Holland and Paul Marshall all crossed the whitewash, while referee Marius Mitrea also awarded Dan McFarland’s side a penalty try in the second half.
Ireland were dominant throughout against a poor Uruguay team, backing up the 66-0 routing of Russia in 45 minutes last Friday to make it two bonus-point wins from two games at the Stadionul National Arcul de Triumf-based tournament.
A win over Romania in Sunday’s third and final fixture [KO 5.00pm Irish time] would see Emerging Ireland claim trophy success.
Gilroy opened the scoring against Uruguay in the 7th minute, getting on the end of a clever grubber kick from JJ Hanrahan, with the Munster out-half converting the try from out on the left.
Hanrahan added a penalty shortly after, before Connacht lock Mick Kearney benefited from excellent Robin Copeland – on for the injured Sean Dougall – and Tommy O’Donnell offloads to cross for Ireland’s second try.
Impressive 21-year-old Hanrahan converted Kearney’s score, but was wide of the mark after Butler got in on the fun just before half time, touching down at the tail of a powerful maul that will have pleased McFarland, current forwards coach at Connacht.
Hard-working Munster No. 8 Butler got his second after the interval, scoring 11 minutes into the second half at the back of an Irish scrum that drove over from five metres out. Hanrahan re-found the sweet spot off the tee to add the extras.
The scrum delivered again for Ireland’s next score, with Mitrea awarding a penalty try after the Uruguayans failed to deal with the onslaught from the Irish. That allowed Hanrahan a simple conversion from underneath the posts.
Replacement scrum half Marshall was a lively presence with his sniping runs, and the Ulster man combined with Butler to create Holland’s 66th-minute try. The offload from Butler was perfect, as Hanrahan again converted.
Marshall deservedly got his name on the score-sheet with a late try after captain Johne Murphy intelligently took a quick line-out close to the Uruguay tryline, before substitute Ian Keatley rounded off Ireland’s scoring with an injury-time penalty.
Ireland scorers:
Tries: C Gilroy, M Kearney, P Butler [2], B Holland, P Marshall, Penalty try
Conversions: JJ Hanrahan [5]
Penalties: JJ Hanrahan, I Keatley
Uruguay scorers:
Penalty: J Prada
Emerging Ireland: Craig Gilroy; Johne Murphy (capt.), Brendan Macken, Eoin Griffin, Michael Allen; JJ Hanrahan, Luke McGrath; John Ryan, Bryan Byrne, Ricky Lutton; Mick Kearney, Billy Holland; Tommy O’Donnell, Sean Dougall, Paddy Butler.
Replacements: James Tracy, Callum Black, David Foley, Robin Copeland, Paul Marshall, Ian Keatley, Andrew Conway.
Uruguay: Jerónimo Etcheverry; Gastón Gibernau, Federico Favaro, Pedro Deal, Joaquín Prada (capt.); Rodrigo Silva, Alejo Durán; Mateo Sanguinetti, Carlos Arboleya, Juan Echeverría; Cristofer Soares De Lima, Matías Beer; Agustín Alonso, Fernando Bascou, Mathías Braun.
Replacements: Nicolás Klalppenbach, Oscar Durán, Franco Lamanna, Alejandro Nieto, Juan De Freitas, Guillermo Lijtenstein, Alberto Román.
Referee: Marius Mitrea.
Well done, all. Upwards and onwards!!!!
Ah lads there’s no point in singling out players performances in a match this one sided, they should all have looked good in that rout.
copeland has great feet and is a powerful ball carrier while lacking distribution although at times he was isolated by his great breaks,
Gilroy was assured at fullback and drew many defenders with his tricky running,
allen carried strongly and beat a few defenders to boot,
kearney and holland were everywhere,
Negatives McGrath was a bit sketchy,
JJ was creative but will be dissapointed with his game all the same,
Macken was non existent
Does anybody know how Bryan Byrne played?
I thought Bryan Byrne was excellent. He certainly played with no fear.
His line out throwing was very accurate and his scrummaging was equally impressive. Physically, he was right up there with a few bursting runs.
What stood out for me was his leadership capability in that he was calling the scrums. Encouraging to say the least!
Ok, thanks very much Peter
I think he might be to small fir test rugby tho. Very lightweight