Updated: Saturday, 17 Nov 2012 21:48 Chris Henry drives at the Fiji defence Video Audio Craig Gilroy starred for eight-try Ireland as they destroyed Fiji 53-0 at Thomond Park. The Irish select XV scored four tries in each half to snap an international losing streak of five matches. Fergus McFadden chipped in with two tries and there was a try a piece for Sean Cronin, Darren Cave and Luke Marshall. Gilroy was the undoubted man-of-the-match, however, and he capped an excellent outing with an 80-metre breakaway, hat-trick try. AS IT HAPPENED GALLERY Ireland took an early lead when referee Leighton Hodges penalised the Fijians for going offside. Paddy Jackson slotted the sixth-minute penalty over. Three minutes later and the home crowd were celebrating the first try of the night as
Tag: ireland
O’Connell and Murray injury blows for Ireland
by Brendan Cole Ireland captain Paul O'Connell and scrum-half Conor Murray have both been ruled out of the rest of the RBS 6 Nations Championship after suffering injuries in the 17-17 draw with France on Sunday. Ireland captain O'Connell played the full 80 minutes against France but underwent a scan on his left knee after twisting it during the match. That revealed damage to his medial collateral ligament and the injury will rule him out of the next two Ireland games, which are against Scotland this weekend and England on 17 March. In total, the injury is expected to require a 3-6 week recovery period, meaning that O'Connell could be a doubt for Munster's Heineken Cup quarter-final with Ulster at the beginning of April. Scrum-half
FAI state Ireland will be seeded
The FAI have stated Ireland will be seeded in the draw for the Euro 2012 play-offs after Giovanni Trapattoni's men finished second in their group in qualifying. Watch the draw for the Euro 2012 play-offs on Thursday at 12pm on RTÉ.ie Tuesday night's win over Armenia, coupled with results around Europe, means Ireland can be drawn with Bosnia & Herzegovina, Montenegro, Turkey and Estonia. Ireland will be seeded with Portugal, Czech Republic and Croatia. However, Trapattoni is happy to accept whatever fate sends their way. He said: "All the second-placed teams are very important. We must accept whichever team. "The first and second teams in the table are always great teams. But I think it would be better to play the first game away and the
Four changes in Ireland team for Australia
by Brendan Cole Declan Kidney has made four changes to the Ireland team to face Australia in Ireland's crucial Pool C clash in Auckland on Saturday morning. Watch Ireland v Australia live on RTÉ 2 and RTÉ.ie/sport from 9am, listen on RTÉ Radio or follow live tracking on RTÉ.ie/sport (kick-off 9.30am). Ireland beat the USA 22-10 in their Pool C opener on Saturday with a performance that had some calling on the coach to make radical calls. But, with two of the four changes announced expected prior even to the USA game, he has settled for minor surgery. As expected, Sean O'Brien and Cian Healy return to the pack after sitting out last weekend. O'Brien was not risked against the USA as he