Ireland thump Canada in Cardiff stroll

By Justin Palmer

SLICK Ireland put an underwhelming warm-up campaign firmly behind them by crushing Canada 50-7 in their Rugby World Cup Pool D opener at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday.

The Six Nations champions, recently ranked second in the world behind New Zealand and looking to go beyond the quarter-finals for the first time, were out of sight after scoring four first-half tries.

Ireland took full advantage of Canada skipper Jamie Cudmore’s yellow card, with Sean O’Brien, Iain Henderson and Johnny Sexton crossing and Dave Kearney added a fourth score to make it 29-0 at the break.

Canada stemmed the tide for a while in the second half when Ireland captain Paul O’Connell was sin-binned, but normal service resumed when Sean Cronin barged over for another Irish try.

Canada wing DTH Van Der Merwe grabbed a consolation try, but the Irish added two more through Rob Kearney and Jared Payne.

In the day’s early game, Georgia, inspired by captain Mamuka Gorgodze, held off a desperate second-half surge by Tonga to secure a surprise 17-10 win over the Pacific Islanders in their Rugby World Cup Pool C opener.

Gorgodze, the number eight nicknamed ‘Gorgodzilla’ for his mighty bulk, was named man of the match after leading by example in a tense and bone-crunching encounter.

“I have big emotions, I think all national team of Georgia were man of the match, it is not only me,” he said after Georgia’s delighted players had sealed only their third-ever World Cup victory and wrapped themselves in the national flag.

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