What It Said In The Papers

Ireland for open running rugby, Fiji for your holidays. They say the Fiji government has a tenuous hold on power at the moment – but it’s their Minister for Defence who should be deposed. Rarely has Lansdowne Road witnessed such apathy in one of the game’s basics. – and while Waisale Serevi may be the world’s best Sevens player he must think tackle is what you go fishing with. – Derek Foley, The Star.

Still scalded from their experience across in Cardiff, the Fijians were tentative and seemed to have lost their famously wicked imagination and joyous approach to the game. – Keith Duggan, The Irish Times.

Five minutes into the second half on a pock-marked pitch, Waisale Serevi received the ball five metres from the Ireland line, with two men outside him and no Irish player in sight. He dropped it. It was dry and mild enough but, when you have as much interest in playing as a turkey has enthusiasm for Christmas, you can expect these things to happen. – Brendan Fanning, The Guardian.

Control was the key in the opening forty and with Anthony Foley and Malcolm O’Kelly in the vanguard, Ireland dictated the tempo. We saw clinically executed professional rugby off the training paddock, underpinned by a quality intended to smother the intended Fijian gameplan on the day. – Tony Ward, The Irish Independent.

Fiji were disappointingly timid in the tackle, unusually hesitant in attack, their line-out was a shambles and by the time Waisale Serevi high-stepped his way out of a tackle to set up Joseph Naruhn’s try, the game was long gone. – Paul Bolton, The Daily Telegraph.

Any side capable of making Wales look good had to be cannon fodder for Ireland, even if yesterday’s side was a combination of Ireland’s first and second string. – Charlie Mulqueen, The Irish Examiner.

Schools matches will, in due course, provide better lineouts than Fiji’s, who could scarcely buy one at Lansdowne yesterday. But then again the impoverished visitors probably don’t have the resources of some of Leinster’s leading school sides. Less forgivable was some vintage marshmallow tackling which should leave some of the visitors in shame when they review the video before the final two games of their tour in Scotland. – Gerry Thornley, The Irish Times.

Isn’t it odd that a match should produce 11 tries and be something of an anti-climax after a game that failed to produce one last weekend. That’s not to take anything away from Ireland’s display in defeating Fiji at Lansdowne Road. They did what they had to do, very impressively at times, with quite a few players boosting their reputations. – Kieran Rooney, The Irish Independent.