Churchill Cup:Ireland gave the New Zealand Maori a momentary scare before being blown away by the extra power and pace of their opponents at Exeter's Sandy Park last night.
The Maori will now face England Saxons in the Churchill Cup final at Twickenham on Saturday, with Ireland taking on Scotland in the third and fourth place play-off at the same venue.
Ireland could not have got off to a better start, with Ulster centre Darren Cave cutting a lovely line through the Maori defence to score near the posts, with Leinster outhalf Johnny Sexton adding the conversion.
The Irish joy, though, proved shortlived as the Maoris hit back within three minutes. Outhalf Tamati Ellison registered their first points with a 25-metre penalty, before banging over the extras to winger Hosea Gear's try on eight minutes.
Gear was able to dot down by the posts following a sublime chip over the top of the Irish defence by fullback Shannon Paku.
However, the end-to-end action continued aplenty and it was Ireland who came roaring back. Solid approach work from the Greens pack put them deep into the Maori 22, before Leicester scrumhalf Frank Murphy took control to send centre Keith Earls over for their second touchdown of the night.
However, that would be as close as the Irish got to the Maoris, who finished the half with a real flourish.
Tipoki and Gear set up the Maoris's second try, scored five minutes before the break by fullback Shannon Paku. Then, in first-half stoppage time, Ellison carved his way right through the heart of the Irish defence.
Ellison banged over the conversions to both those scores, before applying two further kicks to early second half scores from Gear and May to stretch the score to 38-12.
The Maoris added a sixth try just before the hour, flanker Angus MacDonald laying the foundations for May to scamper over for his second try, again converted by Ellison, but Ireland claimed two tries in the final five minutes from Cave and replacement David Gannon.
Fittingly, though, it was left to the men from the Southern Hemisphere to wrap proceedings up, with replacement Calam Bruce crossing in the corner.
Ireland A:Tries, Cave (2), Earls, Gannon; Conversion, Sexton. New Zealand Maori:Tries, Gear (2), Paku, Ellison, May; Conversions, Ellison (5); Penalty, Ellison
IRELAND:R McCarron (J Hearty h/t); P McKenzie, D Cave, K Earls (S Mallon 40-41, 56), J Murphy; J Sexton, F Murphy (C Keane 79); R Hogan (D Fitzpatrick 14, S Keogh 53), J Fogarty (capt, S Cronin 54), M Ross (D Gannon 69); R Caldwell, A Farley; J O'Sullivan, J O'Connor, R Wilson. Yellow card: F Murphy
NEW ZEALAND MAORI:S Paku; H Gear, D Sweeney, R Tipoki (capt, C Bruce 70), A Tahana (P Te Whare 62); T Ellison, C Smiley (J Rodley 73); C West (H Tui 66), A de Malamanche, (L Mahoney 25-27, 40-41, 48-52, 65) B May; K Ormsby (I Ross 73), H Triggs; A MacDonald (J Hoeta 18-22), T Latimer (J Hoeta 62), W Smith (H Tui 25-33). Yellow cards: May, Rodley.
Referee:A MacPherson (Scotland).
Attendance:4,679.
