A INTERNATIONAL Ireland A 31 Argentina 0: THE IRISH As laid down a marker of sorts for their senior brethren at the Tallaght Stadium last night by completing an unbeaten 2009 with a fairly routine sixth win of the calendar year.
Keeping their shape impressively throughout, they ran in five tries without reply, with their Argentinian counterparts scarcely threatening the zero part of the equation.
The IRFU’s brave venture into southwest Dublin drew a crowd of 4,016, well short of the normal 5,500 which attends Shamrock Rovers’ home games, but still a decent attendance.
However, last night’s game was partly symbolic, for it brought more attention on the IRFU’s establishment of Tallaght Rugby Club in 2002. While the so-called Tallaght Project has been abandoned, the club’s first two teams play in the Leinster J4 league, and their senior player numbers have trebled in the last three seasons in addition to their many under-age sides. They are also being well supported by the local business community too, with the local Halifax sponsoring their new kit.
Taking representative rugby to previously unchartered territory, traffic in around Tallaght didn’t exactly come to a standstill even on at tea-time of a Friday. That said, the Maldron Hotel across the road was doing brisker business than usual, less so Lidl. There were undoubtedly though, a few more crombies than would be the norm hereabouts, and the guest list at the main reception was filled with IRFU figures and a few local politicos.
The Jaguares were in the true tradition of Pumas, so to speak, in that forced to live off scraps, they spoiled and defended with plenty of patriotic fervour in an encounter not with its scrappy longeurs. Somehow, the penalty count ended up 17-12 to the Pumas, whose full-back Beliusario Agulla was binned, as even in a scoreless final quarter, Peter Allan’s concerto didn’t let up.
For a scrumhalf especially, any Argentinian team must be a nightmare to play against, and Isaac Boss was often getting the ball away under pressure or in the tackles. That said, he could have been sharper off the base. The Jaguares had plenty of penalties but their kicking game was truly awful, and hence Ian Humphreys pinned them deep into their territory regularly.
Their scrum featured ex Leinster prop cum flop Juan Gomez (now plying his trade with Leeds Carnegie) and Brett Wilkinson, quick for a prop, having a good night, as did John Fogarty and Mike Ross. Donncha Ryan was probably consistently closer to the action than any other and John Muldoon caught the eye, while ultimately Niall Ronan’s influence as a link grew more influential than anyone’s as the game loosened up a little.
The Irish were full of attacking intent, opting for quick ball off the tail on their first three throws. The Ulster halves, Isaac Boss and Ian Humphreys, took the ball very flat to the gain line (indeed, sometimes too much so) and went through a repertoire of complicated attacking moves (sometimes too complicated).
Humphreys was giving full expression to his array of attacking talents, spiralling the ball through the crisp and clear night air vast distances and mixing up his customary pass-and-loop routines with skip passes.
Indeed, having established the territorial foothold for his pack to attack the Jaguares’ lineout, Humphreys looped around Ryan and scythed through, and though he appeared to miss the try-scoring offload to Keith Matthews, Ryan Caldwell was on hand to take the pop off the deck to score.
It was Muldoon’s quick hands which released Fergus McFadden for a dash up the line when Boss went blind off third phase, and the scrumhalf was there quickly for Humphreys to execute a perfect cross-kick, Ian Dowling gathering on the run to touch down and the outhalf’s conversion made it 12-0 at the break.
The Irish began cutting loose and finding a few more gaps in the second half by upping the tempo after John Fogarty plunged over from a succession of drives by the forwards from a Mick O’Driscoll take. Humphreys put Dowling through the middle on his inside for the winger to find Niall Ronan in support, and his long miss pass was deftly picked up on the run by Felix Jones for him to put Johne Murphy over in the corner.
The best try seen in the Tallaght Stadium so far would complete the scoring nearing the hour, as Humprheys released Jones up the middle following a quick throw inside the Irish 22, the fullback galloping deep into the Jaguares’ half before Murphy finished off the move in the corner.
Scoring sequence: 13 minsCaldwell try 5-0; 26 minsDowling try, Humphreys con 12-0; (half-time 12-0); 44 minsFogarty try, Humphreys con 19-0; 53 minsMurphy try, Humphreys con 26-0; 59 minsMurphy try 31-0;
IRELAND A: F Jones (Munster); I Dowling (Munster), F McFadden (Leinster), K Matthews (Connacht), J Murphy (Leicester); I Humphreys (Ulster), I Boss (Ulster); B Wilkinson (Connacht), J Fogarty (Leinster), M Ross (Leinster), R Caldwell (Ulster), M O'Driscoll (Munster), D Ryan (Munster), N Ronan (Munster), J Muldoon (Connacht). Replacements: I Keatley (Connacht) for Matthews (36 mins), A Kyriacou (Ulster) for Fogarty, E O'Donoghue (Ulster) for Caldwell (both 63 mins), B Young (Ulster) for Wilkinson, C Henry (Ulster) for Muldoon (both 68 mins), F Murphy (Connacht) for Boss, D Hurley (Munster) for Dowling (both 71 mins).
ARGENTINA JAGUARES: B Agulla (Hindú); F Merello (Regatas de Bella Vista), M Viazzo (Bourgoin), J Pablo Estelles (Atlético de Rosario), T De Vedia (SIC); S González Iglesias (Asociación Alumni), M Landajo (CASI); J Gómez (Leeds Carnegie), Á Tejeda (Overmach Parma), G De Robertis (Regatas de Bella Vista), T Roan (La Plata), M Galarza (U de La Plata), A Guzmán (Tucumán), L Senatore (GER/Rosario), B Macome (Tucumán). Replacements: F Albarracin (La Plata) for Landajo (55 mins), M Cortese (Liceo) for Gomez, R Bruno (Jockey de Villa María) for Macome (both 60 mins), N Chaparro Tetaz (La Plata) for Tejeda (63 mins), I Pasman (Champagnat) for Roan, N Sanchez (Tucumán) for Iglesias, G Ascarate for Viazzo (all 72 mins). Sinbinned: Agulla (69-79 mins).
Referee: Peter Allan(SRU).
