FT Ireland 52 Fiji 17: As it happened

“Judgment has to be kept in the context of a disappointing and ill-disciplined Fijian side but after that anticlimactic opening night against the All Blacks, this reshaped Irish team showed distinct signs of rediscovering more of themselves again,” Gerry Thornley writes from the Aviva.
Read Gerry’s full report on Ireland’s 52-17 win below.
[ Ireland make light work of ill-disciplined FijiOpens in new window ]
And we’ll leave it there for the evening. We’ll be back this day next week for Ireland’s final Autumn Nations Series fixture against Australia.
Their head coach might be a tad fimiliar, remember Joe Schmidt? A game very much to look forward to.
Funny enough day all round. Ireland ran in eight tries, which is not to be sniffed at. But Fiji were hugely indisciplined and gave Andy Farrell’s side all the help they needed. And there was plenty of sloppiness from the home side too. But all in all, a good run out.
FULL-TIME: IRELAND 52 FIJI 17
79 mins: TRY IRELAND! Ronan Kelleher is left completely free after throwing in a line-out and when Doris feeds him, he has a stright run to the line. There’s a bit of a dust-up afterwards but no further action. Eight tries is a fair days work. IRELAND 52 FIJI 17
74 mins: Bundee Aki comes off for a rest and with Ronan Kelleher coming on, it means Doris moves back to play outside centre. That’s a new one. IRELAND 47 FIJI 17
68 mins: TRY IRELAND! Pressure from the penalty leads to Casey putting Hansen away in the corner and Fiji are a bit of a rabble at this stage. Prendergast misses his first conversion of the day. IRELAND 47 FIJI 17
67 mins: That’s silly from Turagacoke though – yet another Fiji penalty right under the referee’s nose and he goes to the bin. IRELAND 42 FIJI 17
65 mins: But Fiji hit straight back! Muntz makes a break in midfield and finds substitute Setareki Turagacoke on his inside and he’s away and gone under the posts. IRELAND 42 FIJI 17
64 mins: TRY IRELAND! And after setting up three tries in the first half Gus McCarthy gets on the board. It couldn’t be more straight-forward – he held the ball at the back of a powerful line-out maul and flopped over the line as soon as he saw it. An easy conversion for Prendergast. IRELAND 42 FIJI 10
59 mins: Another butchered try opportunity from Ireland – Frawley this time, with a forward pass to Murray on the left wing. It looked easier for Frawley just to run the ball in himself. That’s at least three and maybe four tries Ireland have left behind them through poor execution. They could be well over the 50-point mark here. IRELAND 35 FIJI 10
55 mins: TRY FIJI! Kitione Salawa launches himself through as Ireland are a little disjointed at the breakdown. It’s a brilliant piece of opportunism, catching Ireland asleep at a ruck. Muntz adds the conversion. IRELAND 35 FIJI 10
50 mins: Stockdale does off injured and so Conor Murray is on as a winger. Cian Prendergast, Tom O’Toole, Thomas Clarkson and Iain Henderson see action as well.
46 mins: TRY IRELAND! Another penalty against Fiji, this time for collapsing a scrum in midfield. Prendergast kicks to touch and Ireland attack off the line-out. Bundee Aki walks in after the referee gets knocked to the ground. She asks the TMO – “Did I create that hole?” but he assures her she can award the try. Prendergast adds the extra and this is a rout now. IRELAND 35 FIJI 3
43 mins: Ach, Stockdale made a bit of a mess of that, scything through impressively but getting a bit of white-line fever instead of sending Van Der Flier in for a walk-in try. IRELAND 28 FIJI 3
40 mins: And we’re back. Prendergast gets the second half underway. IRELAND 28 FIJI 3
Fine first half for Ireland against a Fiji side that has got on the wrong side of the referee and don’t seem to be able to fix it. I’m off for a Club Milk. Back in 10.
Half-time: TRY IRELAND! Gorgeous cross-kick from Prendergast leaves Hansen with half of Ringsend to run into out on the right wing. The conversion drops in off the post and that caps a pretty perfect first half. IRELAND 28 FIJI 3
40 mins: Scrum Ireland, five metres out. Lots of chirping going on here. IRELAND 21 FIJI 3
39 mins: Another late tackle – and this time it is a penalty. Casey is hit by Luke Tagi after giving off his pass and Prendergast kicks to the corner. Is there another try before half-time? IRELAND 21 FIJI 3
38 mins: Frawley gets to his feet very gingerly after being hit late by Eroni Mawi. No card. No penalty even. IRELAND 21 FIJI 3
33 mins: Penalties are killing Fiji here. That one was in the srum, while they had possession in the Ireland half. That makes the penalty county 10-2 against them. No future in that. IRELAND 21 FIJI 3
31 mins: TRY IRELAND! And there it is. Gus McCarthy is involved again, holding the ball from the line-out maul and feeding Craig Casey at the last second. The Munster scrum-half dives for the corner and that’s Ireland’s third try. Prendergast lands a tricky conversion. IRELAND 21 FIJI 3
30 mins: But for how long? More penalties against Fiji on their own line – Davidson says she won’t stand for many more. Prendergast kicks to the corner. IRELAND 14 FIJI 3
29 mins: Fiji saw out that yellow card period pretty well in the end. They’ve back up to 15. IRELAND 14 FIJI 3
28 mins: Ciaran Frawley is on for Jamie Osborne, who took a bang. He’s gone to the bench so we presume that’s permanent. Fiji have lost their scrum half and a prop so far. Plenty of attrition in this. IRELAND 14 FIJI 3
25 mins: There’s no let-up here. Ireland make a line-break from a line-out and Jacob Stockdale comes within an inch of sending Hansen away down the right wing. The Connacht man can’t hold on though and it’s a Fiji scrum. IRELAND 14 FIJI 3
22 mins: Sloppy again from Ireland. Mack Hansen has two men over on the left wing but his pass to Izuchukwu is forward. Not by much but Davidson called it immediately and she was right on the spot for it. Hansen didn’t need to play it so flat – that goes down as a real missed opportunity. IRELAND 14 FIJI 3
20 mins: Disaster for Fiji. They’ve been racking up the penatlies and Hollie Davidson’s patience has run out. Eroni Mawi is probably unlucky to go for what looked like a fairly legal clear-out but it is what it is. Fiji down to 14 for the next 10 minutes. IRELAND 14 FIJI 3
18 mins: That’s sloppy from Ireland, the kind of indiscipline at the breakdown that has dogged their autumn. Caleb Muntz splits the posts. IRELAND 14 FIJI 3
15 mins: TRY IRELAND! Ah, that’s a bit of class from Gus McCarthy. He takes a tap penalty five metres out, flicks the ball behind his back to Doris who sends Josh van der Flier over. With Prendergast still in the bin, Craig Casey takes the conversion and makes no mistake. IRELAND 14 FIJI 0
13 mins: Prendergast’s yellow stays yellow. Things are falling Ireland’s way here. IRELAND 7 FIJI 0
10 mins: Fiji are millimetres from a try! Jiuta Wainiqolo stretches his right arm but comes up about six blades of grass short in the corner. It’s lost forward and Ireland have a scrum. Lucky escape. IRELAND 7 FIJI 0
8 mins: Ouch. Prendergast could be in real trouble here – he’s heading to the bin for at least 10 minutes. He made no attempt to tackle Waisea Nayacalevu, catching him in the jaw with his shoulder. He’ll be nervous sitting there, knowing this could be upgraded to red. IRELAND 7 FIJI 0
5 mins: TRY IRELAND! That’s better! McCarthy finds his man from a line-out five metres out this time – nailing his throw to Joe McCarthy before coming on the loop to carry. His inside pass sends Caelan Doris over and it’s an early lead. Sam Prendergast ices the conversion and Ireland are up and running. IRELAND 7 FIJI 0
3 mins: Oof. Bad start for the debut duo Gus McCarthy and Cormac Izuchukwu. The Leinster hooker found the Ulster flanker from an attacking line-out but the throw was deemed crooked and Fiji have a clearing penalty.
And we’re away! Fiji kicked off and Ireland exit through a Craig Casey box kick.
The anthems are done and we’re about to get going. The Fijians got plenty fo the crowd on their side by genuflecting in front of Michael D during the preliminaries. Haven’t seen that before. Gas.
Michael D is doing his thing. Kick-off in 10 minutes.
So what are we expecting here? Ireland are 19-point favourites so it will be a bad afternoon if the result is in doubt coming down the stretch. But Fiji beat Australia at the World Cup and won in Cardiff a fortnight ago. They have six wins in their last seven tests, in fact. With such a callow Irish side, it will be interesting to see if 19 points is generous to the home side.
Big match preview from Gerry Thornley here.
[ No underestimating the Flying Fijians as they prepare to target Ireland’s vulnerabilitiesOpens in new window ]
Big day for Sam Prendergast, of course. Anyone who watched him steer the Ireland Under-20s around the place with such aplomb two years back could see that this day was bound to come at some stage but a first start at 10 is a big deal in anyone’s life. Johnny Watterson has profiled the young Leinster up-and-comer in today’s paper.
[ Former army baby Sam Prendergast not afraid to stand his ground in Ireland senior squadOpens in new window ]
Here we go then, with the third of four November tests as Fiji arrive at Lansdowne Road. Andy Farrell has gone with youth, with Sam Prendergast getting the reins in the number 10 jersey and debut starts for Cormac Izuchukwu and Gus McCarthy. Should be good fun all round – the weather has improved in Dublin since the overnight storms and the Fijians can usually be relied upon to throw it around a bit. Kick-off is at 3.10.
Here are the teams:
IRELAND: Jamie Osborne (Leinster); Mack Hansen (Connacht), Robbie Henshaw (Leinster), Bundee Aki (Connacht), Jacob Stockdale (Ulster); Sam Prendergast (Leinster), Craig Casey (Munster); Andrew Porter (Leinster), Gus McCarthy (Leinster), Finlay Bealham (Connacht); Joe McCarthy (Leinster), Tadhg Beirne (Munster); Cormac Izuchukwu (Ulster), Josh van der Flier (Leinster), Caelan Doris (Leinster, Capt).
Replacements: Rónan Kelleher (Leinster), Tom O’Toole (Ulster), Thomas Clarkson (Leinster), Iain Henderson (Ulster), Cian Prendergast (Connacht), Conor Murray (Munster), Ciarán Frawley (Leinster), Stuart McCloskey (Ulster).
FIJI: Vuate Karawalevu (Waratahs); Jiuta Wainiqolo (Toulon), Waisea Nayacalevu (Sale, capt), Josua Tuisova (Racing 92), Ponepati Loganimasi (Fijian Drua); Caleb Muntz (Fijian Drua), Frank Lomani (Fijian Drua); Eroni Mawi (Saracens), Tevita Ikanivere (Fijian Drua), Luke Tagi (Bayonne); Mesake Vocevoce (Fijian Drua), Temo Mayanavanua (Northampton); Meli Derenalagi (Fijian Drua), Kitione Salawa (Fijian Drua), Elia Canakaivata (Fijian Drua).
Replacements: Sam Matavesi (Lyon), Haereiti Hetet (Fijian Drua), Samu Tawake (Fijian Drua), Setareki Turagacoke (Stade Francais), Albert Tuisue (Gloucester), Peni Matawalu (Fijian Drua), Vilimoni Botitu (Castres Olympique), Sireli Maqala (Bayonne).
Referee: Hollie Davidson (SRU)