Ireland claimed a 47-5 victory over Samoa in their final Rugby World Cup pool fixture in Fukuoka, despite a first-half red card for Bundee Aki.
In an entertaining match, played at a fast pace, Ireland did well to dominate proceedings after Aki received his marching orders. This, for making contact with the head of Ulupano Seuteni with his shoulder in a tackle 10 minutes before half-time.
Jonathan Sexton led the way for Ireland with an 18-point haul courtesy of a brace of tries and four conversions. Their other points came via tries from Rory Best, Tadhg Furlong, Jordan Lamour, CJ Stander and Andrew Conway while Joey Carbery succeeded with two conversions.
For Samoa, who had two players sent to the sin bin, Jack Lam crossed the whitewash.
Ireland were fastest out of the blocks and took the lead in the fourth minute courtesy of Best’s try which came off the back of a lineout drive deep inside Samoa territory.
Sexton slotted the conversion and the Pacific Islanders were dealt a further setback shortly afterwards when Seilala Lam was yellow carded for a high tackle on Jacob Stockdale.
With a numerical advantage, Ireland were always going to dominate and shortly after Lam was sent to the sin bin Furlong set off on a barnstorming run inside Samoa’s 22 where he burst through four tackles before crashing over for his side’s second five-pointer.
That was the only points scored during Lam’s stint on the sidelines but Ireland continued to dominate and midway through the half Sexton crossed the whitewash after Lamour did well in the build-up.
Despite that onslaught from the Irish, Samoa came back strongly and opened their account in the 28th minute when Lam scored his try from close quarters despite the attentions of two defenders.
Just before the half-hour mark, Aki received his marching orders but Ireland still finished stronger during the opening period and led 26-5 at half-time after Sexton crossed for his second try shortly before the interval.
FULL TIME SCORE: IRELAND 47-5 SAMOA #TeamOfUs #ShoulderToShoulder #IREvSAM pic.twitter.com/4SR6MKb9jL
— Irish Rugby (@IrishRugby) October 12, 2019
Ireland’s numerical disadvantage did not prove too costly and they continued to hold the upper hand after the restart. And in the 48th minute, they extended their lead when Larmour dotted down after gathering a well-timed long pass from Conor Murray.
They spent the next 20 minutes camped inside Samoa’s territory, although they were frustrated by a solid defensive effort from their opponents, who also committed a plethora of penalties during that time. In the 59th minute, the Pacific Islanders suffered a further setback when TJ Ioane was also yellow carded for a cynical defensive foul close to his try-line.
Five minutes later, Stander crossed the whitewash from close quarters for his side’s sixth try and in the 70th minute Conway scored his five-pointer by diving onto a perfectly weighted grubber kick from Carbery behind Samoa’s try-line.
That sealed an emphatic win for the men from the Emerald Isle as well as their spot in the tournament’s quarter-finals. They will face either New Zealand or South Africa in the play-offs, depending on the outcome of the match between Japan and Scotland which is set to be played in Yokohama on Sunday.
The scorers:
For Ireland:
Tries: Best, Furlong, Sexton 2, Lamour, Stander, Conway
Cons: Sexton 4, Carbery 2
Red Card: Aki
For Samoa:
Try: J Lam
Yellow Cards: S Lam, Ioane
Ireland: 15 Jordan Larmour, 14 Keith Earls, 13 Robbie Henshaw, 12 Bundee Aki, 11 Jacob Stockdale, 10 Jonathan Sexton, 9 Conor Murray, 8 CJ Stander, 7 Josh van der Flier, 6 Tadhg Beirne, 5 James Ryan, 4 Iain Henderson, 3 Tadhg Furlong, 2 Rory Best (c), 1 Cian Healy
Replacements: 16 Niall Scannell, 17 Dave Kilcoyne, 18 Andrew Porter, 19 Jean Kleyn, 20 Peter O’Mahony, 21 Luke McGrath, 22 Joey Carbery, 23 Andrew Conway
Samoa: 15 Tim Nanai-Williams, 14 Ahsee Tuala, 13 Alapati Leiua, 12 Henry Taefu, 11 Ed Fidow, 10 Ulupano Seuteni, 9 Dwayne Polataivao, 8 Jack Lam (c), 7 TJ Ioane, 6 Chris Vui, 5 Kane Le’aupepe, 4 Teofilo Paulo, 3 Michael Alaalatoa, 2 Seilala Lam, 1 Logovii Mulipola
Replacements: 16 Ray Niuia, 17 Paul Alo-Emile, 18 Jordan Lay, 19 Piula Faasalele, 20 Josh Tyrell, 21 Pele Cowley, 22 Tusi Pisi, 23 Kieron Fonotia
Referee: Nic Berry (Australia)
Assistant referees: Romain Poite (France), Brendon Pickerill (New Zealand)
TMO: Rowan Kitt (England)
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