Head coach Andy Farrell will soon embark on his full-time role in charge of the British and Irish Lions, and several of his men in green will hope they have done enough to secure a spot in his considerations for the 2025 tour to Australia, with a game against the Wallabies to come next weekend.
Almost straight off the bat in this Dublin match, new fly-half Sam Prendergast kicked a penalty to the corner; a telling effort since he got his forwards as close to the try line as possible. A cleverly-worked lineout – is there any other kind by Ireland? – saw debutant hooker Gus McCarthy arc around the lineout and pop the ball back inside for captain Caelan Doris to score. Prendergast converted for his first points in international rugby.
No sooner had the young playmaker from Leinster – often hyped as the man to fill the great Johnny Sexton’s boots – broken his duck in Test rugby than he was being given his marching orders: a yellow card, with a bunker review, for putting in a shoulder to the head of Fijian openside Kitione Salawa.
Fiji almost scored in the next breath with a stirring flight up the right wing, but knocked on in the act of touching down.
Instead it was Ireland who were galvanised by the act of losing their main man. Fiji were penalised for not rolling away at a ruck in the shadow of their posts, and Ireland orchestrated another sumptuous set play after taking a tap, Doris this time the provider for openside Josh van der Flier after a superb switch by McCarthy ((at 21, his country’s youngest starting hooker in 77 years). Scrum-half Craig Casey added the extras in the absence of his half-back partner.
Before Ireland could completely run away with it, Fiji fly-half Caleb Muntz struck a good penalty from just under 40 metres out to make it 14-3 approaching the end of the first quarter.
Referee Hollie Davidson tired of penalising the Fijians, and loosehead Eroni Mawi was the one to suffer for it as he was yellow-carded. But still the visitors continued to bleed penalties, and with Prendergast back on the field, he kicked to touch for another 5m lineout.
Rather than any razzle-dazzle this time, Ireland simply put numbers into the ensuing maul. McCarthy broke away and slipped the ball to Casey on the wing for a diving try (his first in Test rugby). Prendergast’s successful conversion from the touchline showed what he’s capable of from the tee. 21-3.
Ireland then made a sequence of uncharacteristic errors, both at lineout and in their handling, which prevented them from putting down an emphatic full stop on the first half.
Well, that was until minute 41, when Prendergast, under pressure from a Fiji defence rushing off their line, made a pinpoint crossfield kick to Mack Hansen for the wing to score. There was a mild gasp from the crowd as Prendergast’s conversion attempt bounced off the post, but made it over nonetheless. Ireland had reasons to be cheerful after the first 40 minutes.
Fiji may be famed for their sevens abilities, but it was Ireland’s next try that had more in common with the abbreviated version of the game, a series of passes in and out of contact keeping the ball alive, with centre Bundee Aki crossing for his team’s fifth of the afternoon.
Sometimes there’s no substitute for raw power. This much was true when Salawa burst from the base of a ruck near the Irish 5m line and not a single Irishman was able to stop the flanker from scoring his fourth try in eight Test matches. Muntz converted for a 35-10 scoreline.
After an hour, former U20 Six Nations winner McCarthy flopped over the line from a rotating maul to put the icing on an assured Test debut, while his U20s teammate Prendergast – who was joined in the second half by brother Cian – added the extras.
Fiji had the perfect response, with Muntz darting through the Irish defence and offloading to teenaged replacement Setareki Turagacoke to score. The score, thanks to Muntz’s simple conversion, now read 42-17 with a little over 10 minutes left to play.
It became a game of tit-for-tat as Ireland’s phases of attack caused the Fijian defence to narrow on their try-line, allowing Hansen the tiniest of gaps to score his second in the corner: 47-17.
Just when you thought it was to Fiji’s credit that they looked to have kept Ireland to under 50 points, Doris drew the defender in the visitors’ 22 and passed to replacement hooker Ronan Kelleher for a try. A scuffle ensued in the in-goal area, but it was all the fight Fiji had left to give after a resounding win by the hosts.