Ireland 55 Canada 0
It took less than three minutes for Ireland's newest wunderkind Keith Earls to score his first Test try as his team slaughtered Canada 55-0 at Thomond Park here on Saturday.
The 21-year-old debutante full-back was one of new Ireland head coach Declan Kidney's selection successes but such was the difference in the quality of the two teams, he could hardly have gone wrong.
The game was over as a contest by the time Ireland's scrum dominance forced a try for Jamie Heaslip in the 27th minute. O'Gara, who enjoyed a 100 percent kicking ratio before being substituted early in the second half, converted to give Ireland a 24-0 lead.
When an error by Canada full-back James Pritchard let Rob Kearney in for Ireland's second try on 13 minutes it looked like there was going to be a deluge of scores but instead there was a deluge of rain.
The conditions led to a bout of kicking as both teams tried to force mistakes. While there were handling errors aplenty, the tactic failed to produce a score.
As the rain abated, the teams tried to be more ambitious but the quality of play was little better. Kearney got his second touchdown after a quick kick by Eoin Reddan following an infringement near the try line.
And Tommy Bowe's score on half-time off the back of a scrum cruelly exposed the poor level of organisation in the Canadian defence.
They picked up their game in the second as Ireland lost intensity but the gulf in class showed as Canada failed to threaten the try line.
Declan Kidney emptied his bench on 56 minutes in an effort to rejuvenate his team and it made some difference - but not much.
A fine break and well-timed offload by Bowe put David Wallace in for a try just after the hour mark. The highlight of the match came in the 73rd minute when Alan Quinlan rounded off a excellent handling sequence down Canada's left hand side.
Bowe got in for a second try on full-time in a game which will have done little to prepare the Irish for the Test in Dublin against New Zealand next week.
Canada head coach Kieran Crowley, meanwhile, will have learnt that his rebuilding effort will take considerable time with both organisational and player development at the top of his agenda.
IRELAND 55 ((Rob Kearney 2, Tommy Bowe 2, Keith Earls, Jamie Heaslip, David Wallace, Alan Quinlan tries; Ronan O'Gara 5 cons pen, Paddy Wallace con) bt CANADA 0.
AFP
