Ireland V Samoa

Liam McEvoy looks at the disappointing win by Ireland.

Ireland won a hard fought match against Samoa by 20-10, putting an end to their six match losing streak.

Outfought and outplayed for the majority of the game, Irish fans were spared a nervous end to the game by a Ronan O’Gara try in the 66th minute.

Samoa enjoyed greater possession and spent a lot of time in the Irish half but failed to convert their superiority into points.  

Jamie Heaslip scored Ireland’s first try after a good forward play from the Irish pack to give Ireland a 10-0 score line. However, a defence mistake let the Samoan winger Alesana Tuilagi run between Paddy Wallace and O’Gara to score under the posts.

The second half followed the same pattern of the first with Samoa being a much better team as Ireland played like a team without a plan or idea.

With less than a year until the Rugby World Cup, there are worrying signs for Declan Kidney and the management, with poor team performances and problems in a number of positions.

The Irish scrum, like much of the match against South Africa, was once again in trouble but Devin Toner, making his international debut, helped Ireland secure clean ball at the lineout.

Over the next two weeks and during the 6Nations things will not get any easier with all the other teams having vastly superior scrums.

Ireland now face the daunting challenge of New Zealand next week and there will need to be a massive improvement to avoid a humiliating defeat.

Ireland have never beaten the All Blacks and to expect them to do so against the current side, who scored a point a minute after 30 minutes against Scotland, would be madness.

Other November International results for 13^th Nov:

England 35-18 Australia
Wales 25-29 South Africa
Scotland 3-49 New Zealand
Italy 16-22 Argentina
France 34-12 Fiji