THE EMERGING IRELAND squad appear to be enjoying themselves in South Africa, with Simon Easterby’s young team unbeaten after the opening two games of their three-game tour.
After starting with a win against the Pumas last week, Emerging Ireland stepped things up in beating Super Rugby side Western Force on Sunday, running in four tries in a 29-24 win in Bloemfontein.
While Emerging Ireland will be frustrated with their accuracy at times in the opposition 22, they produced moments of excellent attacking rugby across an impressive first half performance before digging in with some resilient defensive work to frustrate the Force after the break.
Easterby described the win as “a really big result for a team that’s only been together for 11 or 12 days”, and while there was much to like about the team performance, a handful of players stood out amid hot and testing playing conditions.
Alex Kendellen
Easterby’s captain led by example with a strong display. The Munster player was busy across Ireland’s excellent start but elevated his performance with some important defensive moments in the second half to help see his team over the line.
Kendellen, 23, scored Ireland’s fourth try and was a nuisance at the breakdown, fittingly coming up with the final turnover to kil the game.
“We came out firing in the first 20 (minutes),” Kendellen said.
“We knew that there were going to be ebbs and flows in that game. Si (Easterby) and Paulie (O’Connell) told us beforehand, ‘you are going to be on the canvas at one stage,’ it was about reacting to that and I thought we reacted very well and stuck in the game.
“We showed what we were about in that last 20 (minutes), that last 10, it was really enjoyable to play in.”
Sam Prendergast
Kendellen was one of just four players retained from the side which swept past the Pumas last Wednesday, with Sam Prendergast again backed to pull the strings from out-half.
Yesterday, Prendergast improved on his performance against the Pumas with a quality showing in the 10 shirt. The Leinster player’s kicking from hand was excellent and he was central to some of those incisive attacking plays.
A missed penalty attempt in the second period was a blemish, but he quickly made amends with a stunning 50:22 – measuring his kick expertly from all of 75 metres. Having travelled with the senior Ireland squad to South Africa over the summer, Prendergast is pushing for his first Test cap next month and Easterby has been impressed with the 21-year-old’s progress on this tour.
“Sam has been brilliant on this trip, he’s really stepped up,” Easterby said.
“He’s got experience of touring with us (Ireland) in the summer but didn’t get a chance to play, and I think the way he’s led the team both on and off the pitch in attack has been incredible.
“And it’s not something that we didn’t expect, but he’s just really driven the team in terms of the way wanted to attack.
“Playing 80 today, some of the stuff that he was doing in terms of his line-kicking, his delivery, his distribution, he’s a class act. That’s something that we expect from him, but he delivered it to one of the highest standards today.”
Cormac Izuchukwu
Like Prendergast, Cormac Izuchukwu is also in the mix for Test honours during the November internationals. The versatile Ulster forward had a good outing in the back row against the Pumas and moved to the second row yesterday, putting his physicality to use while carrying hard and serving as a reliable option at the lineout.
“Izzy was good,” Easterby said.
“He was cramping up a little bit at the end, like a lot of players were, but he’s another one… We’ve got a tight enough leadership group that Izzy and Sam and and Alex are part of, and a couple of others, and I think they’ve all stepped up on and off the pitch.
“Izzy showed again today how effective he can be with ball in hand, the ability to to beat people, to put other people in space, he covers the ground incredibly well. So yeah, really pleasing for him.”
Alex Usanov
Teenage loosehead Alex Usanov also enjoyed a good outing as he made his first start of the tour. At 19, the Leinster prop was one of the youngest players on the pitch but held his own against a Western Force scrum which included Australia international Tom Robertson at tighthead, and had some nice touches with ball in hand.
“He’s like a mini Church (Cian Healy), just incredibly strong, powerful, lots of rough edges to his game, which there would be, but yeah credit to him and the rest of the pack.
“Both sides of the ball, the scrum and the lineout work, it shows what he can produce against a Wallaby prop. We showed how connected we were and how much effort the lads have put in to produce the type of set piece performance that you need to win games.”
Hugh Cooney
In the backline, Leinster’s Hugh Cooney provided impetus across that impressive first-half effort, before getting stuck in defensively as the Force looked to claw back the deficit.
The 21-year-old, who is in his second year with the Leinster Academy, didn’t feature in the matchday 23 against the Pumas but quickly made his impact felt against the Force. The centre provided the initial break for Ireland’s third try – an excellent piece of layered attacking play finished by Sean Jansen – with his speed making him a running threat throughout.
“Yeah, he looked very quick as well,” Easterby said of Cooney.
“He’s a bit of a silent assassin. He goes about his business, he works really hard on both sides of the ball. He’s a very good defensive player but he showed up brilliantly in attack today and was electric at times to make breaks and put other players into position to score.
“So, yeah, really pleased with him, and everyone, really. To be honest, unless you’ve been in camp you wouldn’t know the work that everyone has been putting in to allow this team to perform today.
“It’s often the guys that don’t get a chance in the 23 that are the ones that allow these guys to perform and that was shown in the last few days. We haven’t trained a huge amount, but again, we’ve prepared really well and the lads who haven’t been involved today have prepared the other boys really well.”
