Ireland overcome Fiji rough-housing to post eight-try win in Dublin

Jacob Stockdale, Jamie Osborne, Craig Casey, Ciaran Frawley, Sam Prendergast - and that's just from the back-line - had the Ireland medics working overtime in the Aviva dressing room afterwards.Such was the carnage wrought by the overwrought Fijians, the site could have probably been done with a M*A*S*H unit in attendance.Osborne was gone before the half-an-hour, Stockdale just after the break necessitating Conor Murray play half-an-hour on the wing, a further complication as pint-sized Casey was being aggressively targeted throughout.

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Frawley, ball gone, took a tackle to the ribs that was ever-so borderline late, that had it been judged late it would have been red card; Prendergast took an very early smash hit that, old-school and feeling the pressure of being a rookie, he decided not to stay down.They don't have a word for this carry-on in soccer and, as far as I am aware there isn't one in GAA either.But there is one prevalent in rugby clubhouses up and down the country, from Armagh to Yougghal, Clontarf to Clifden, it's called 'shithousery'.That Ireland scored eight tries was a brilliant back-atcha, Caelan Doris getting the opener, Josh van der Flier, Craig Casey, Mack Hansen crossing twice, Bundee Aki, Gus McCarthy and Ronan Kelleher thereafter.

Ireland vs Fiji - Sam Prendergast feels the Fiji heat
(Image: ©INPHO/Dan Sheridan)

That Fiji gave away 15 penalties, mostly openfield, without a block of them coming as scrum time was telling, that they only received two yellow cards was lucky, that they scored 17 points was neither here nor there.Hollie Davidson is a good referee and expected to be the first woman to be in the middle for a Six Nations game, watch for the 2025 final weekend Italy-Ireland appointment.A Scot normally sharp in Champions Cup/URC on shithousery but limited international experience (Portugal v Italy, Canada v Romania, South Africa v Portugal, Japan v USA) may not have been preparation for her for the cynical, manipulative, South Sea Islanders.Fiji were cynical, reckless, aggressive, careless about being overly-physical and Davidson won't forget the game as she, for her pains, was 'taken out' in a tackle ahead of one of Ireland's tries - having to ask the TMO what happened before confirming the score. Andy Farrell was phlegmatic afterwards, a Man of resigned Steel as opposed to a manipulative Fiji coach who, afterwards, wanted to focus on Sam Prendergast 'deserving' a red card (he received a yellow that was reviewed with regard to red but left at yellow)."They are unbelievably tough, aggressive," said Farrell, "it is that first and foremost with them so I was glad that we kept our composure.“That’s the thing about Fiji. Everyone thinks it’s this fancy rugby, you know, offloading rugby.“One of the messages at half-time was about first-up tackles, one-on-one tackles, because they’re strong, they challenge you and there’s no better way of putting that to use than at the breakdown."Rugby prides itself on being a game for all shapes and sizes but it was diminutive Casey, by way of his position at scrum-half close to the fatties in the forwards, that appeared most targeted.It was a surprise he reemerged for the second-half following an illegal, penalised tackle on him just before the break; he was, nonetheless, heavily strapped and had to play 80 minutes as Murray had come on for Stockdale.“There was a bit of that but I don’t think it was targeting Craig per se. I think that’s their tactic anyway, at the breakdown, try to make sure we play off slow ball. He took a big old clump to the knee but thankfully he’s okay.”Thus eight tries, 523 metres with ball in hand, 14 turnovers, eight penalties conceded and only 14 tackles missed were by far Ireland's best November figures even taking into account the opposition. Fiji were world-ranked nine at kick-off.Continued Farrell: “Everyone was expecting a tough game because of the way Fiji have been playing, so we’ll take that scoreline.“The composure we showed throughout to score some lovely tries, there was a good mixture wasn’t there as far as the maul is concerned, set-piece and we played some nice rugby with overlaps."We played through them or around them from our kicking game etc, so it was a nice mix to get a big scoreline."Specifically the attack had held its shape in the face of potential health threats."It's tough because they're flying at you from all over the place," continued Farrell."We stayed calm enough to see the picture because what you see five seconds ago, it changes on the run. We were composed enough, it was just the final ball a couple of times, it was rushed ."There was one from Mack, one from Josh, another from Ciaran Frawley. There were three tries which we left out there."While the bigger pictures, questions about Doris's leadership under pressure and a rookie out-half had positive retorts both on-field and from the coach."I thought Sam did great. I thought he was really composed. The kick to the corner, that was harsh as well, but it didn't bother him."He had a few mistakes within his game but he was pulling the strings for a good while, and he was really, really composed. It's tough against Fiji, you don't know what you're going to get at times."He pulled up sharp with a hamstring so obviously we'll see how that is tomorrow. But he pulled up quite sharp, so I was gutted for him."He played really well, Jack (Crowley over the last two weeks) did as well, didn’t he, the other day, so we’ve a few selection headaches, that’s for sure.”

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