Older and wiser side gains its first win

ANOTHER small step for Irish rugby, and another huge win for this developing development team. They took some pummelling in the opening two and a half games, but they're a lot older and lot wiser than they were two weeks ago.

Taking that quadruple substitution against Bay of Plenty on Thursday as a turning point, the Irish have now scored 75 points to 19 in their last one and a half games. Continuing where they left off against the Bay, the Irish dominated the line-outs and controlled the ball, applying their newly evolving running and handling game to impressive effect.

Conditions were homely (i.e wet and cold) but weren't particularly helpful, and with a dry ball the Irish would probably have won by more. The scene was akin to a town setting like Creggs. Paeroa is another one street town, with an open pitch off the main street boasting one small main stand. One of the few pitches over here not sand-based, it fairly churned up after a couple of under-age curtain raisers.

The occasion therefore demanded nothing too flashy while still adhering to the Ashton dictum of ball to hand. With Gabriel Fulcher and Malcolm O'Kelly monopolising their own throw sensibly directed to Fulcher at the front initially and poaching much of the Valley's, the Irish probed the blind side and kept the ball close-enough to the pack to begin with.

Mick Lynch, at first centre, took on a pile of ball - Ashton later saying his team overdid the ploy - while Brian O'Meara ran a couple of early tap penalties which resulted in Richard Governey opening the scoring with a penalty.

Despite the setback of an 11th minute try, when Niall Woods's lapse in concentration saw him taken out by a long pass to Ollie Ryan, the Irish stuck to their guns. O'Meara pounced for a pushover try after 17 minutes and four minutes later initiated the try of the game.

Marking Kerry Williams' unsuccessful long-range penalty under the Irish posts, O'Meara swiftly counter-attacked, Lynch moving the ball on for Justin Bishop to make the first inroads up the wing.

The livewire Barry McConnell, arguably the man-of-the-match, provided the crucial support. Dave Erskine, replacing the injured Anthony Foley (who's having a wretchedly unlucky tour) made the next incision from second phase, Lynch and McGrath then making further in-roads before releasing Ciaran Clarke to beat John Swindells on the outside. Was this really Ireland?

Even the watching All Black assistant coach Ross Cooper was mightily impressed "great stuff, great to see". Everywhere, the Irish were supporting the man, either when taking the pass or when clearing the ball off the deck - vital in the conditions - whether they were forwards or backs. One minute it was Clarke rucking over Bishop, the next it was the mighty McConnell.

The missed tackle count, 67 in the first game, was down to 13, Ashton also pointing out that the defensive organisation was much better with the big forwards moving up and out from the fringes to leave the backs with the outside runners.

The big men, Fulcher and O'Kelly, had big games showing why they are modern locks suited to this game. Dave Wallace had another excellent all-round match, with a high tackle count and his typically prominent support play. O'Meara's service was crisp and faultless, while he and the composed Governey directed the play well. Lynch made two marvellous cover tackles and retained the ball well and the overdue tour debutant Alan McGrath tackled superbly, as did Clarke, while also proving sound under the high ball and a strong runner.

There were blemishes, and plenty for Ashton to work with. These included the body positioning sometimes of Wallace and Dean Macartney, overkicking to touch, wrong option taking and occasional turnovers which blighted a scoreless last quarter for the Irish, while Woods missed his man once more and Kevin Maggs let Rob Hooper in for an irritating late try.

By then though, the Irish had long since wrapped up the game. Justin Fitzpatrick ploughed over after good support play and handling by a "back-line" of McConnell, O'Kelly and Woods' O'Meara dummied over for a smartly taken blind side try and Woods was alert to a well-taken intercept try.

"The most encouraging thing was the increase in the level of commitment all across the board," said Fulcher, the Irish captain with the 100 per cent record. "That was really the main thing. Technically, we did some fantastic things and scored some super tries and our line-out was fantastic. But the most encouraging thing was that everybody put everything they had into it and that was what was needed.

"If you had played in those conditions in Thomond Park, you wouldn't have a scoreline like that. But that's just the way they do it. You get tackled with the ball and just move it away immediately. I thought we did it superbly at times. We scored one try from behind our posts and it was just unbelievable. Those kind of things are great and that's probably what we're here to,, do, to learn those type of things.

All is changing, if slowly and a little unsurely. They're getting there.