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Ireland give Bears the runaround

Sunday 25 September 2011, 7:28PM

By Rugby World Cup 2011

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Irish fans had plenty to smile about their side's first-half performance
Irish fans had plenty to smile about their side's first-half performance Credit: Rugby World Cup 2011

ROTORUA

Ireland were on course to remain unbeaten in Pool C after cruising to a 36-0 half-time lead against Russia at Rotorua International Stadium on Sunday.

Ireland, who scored five unanswered tries in the opening half, were quickly into gear, putting Russia immediately on the backfoot as their forwards beared down on the line.

With a try beckoning, the Bears were caught offside right in front, gifting Ronan O'Gara an easy three pointer to open the scoring after six minutes.

With the Russia fly half Konstantin Rachkov then sin-binned for a clinical knockdown, Ireland seized their opportunity to post two quick tries in his absence.

O'Gara's pin-point accurate kick to the right-hand in-goal area found wing Fergus McFadden and soon after they were over again, Isaac Boss doing well in the build-up to help send in flanker Sean O'Brien, who had looked menacing from the start. O'Gara converted again and, at 17-0 up after just 15 minutes, the Pool C pacesetters looked comfortable.

Russia had their moments midway through the half when Vladimir Ostroushko took a kick that O'Gara had directed to his wing and raced 40 metres, but his pass inside went astray with the Irish defence stretched.

Ireland threw everything at the Bears late in the first half and were rewarded when Boss was able to ground the ball against the padding of the goalpost two minutes before the break for their third try. A minute later they had their fourth, Keith Earls scoring in the corner on the restart to put the Irish 31-0 up, with O'Gara adding his fourth conversion.

And Andrew Trimble scored the fifth try right on half-time to give them ample breathing space, but OGara missed his first conversion of the night.