A win is a win, and all that - all the more so in a no-win scenario. In exorcising another old ghost, Ireland duly recorded their third victory on the spin and the sixth in seven games to keep things ticking over in advance of the main business of the autumn, against the All Blacks next week. To read much more than that into this game would probably be a mistake.
Not unexpectedly, the intense itinerary of late and a seriously disruptive week told, it was no surprise Ireland didn't exactly flow like a river. To be critical, it could be said they failed to provide much continuity or impose any real pattern against the inexperienced, if lively, Samoans.
The scrum struggled at times, where a bemused Emmet Byrne persistently incurred the wrath of a pernickety Iain Ramage. The timing between thrower, lifters and jumpers at line-out time also broke down a couple of times near the Samoan line, and apart from the try-scoring drive this didn't yield the bountiful harvest last week's win by a development XV over the tourists had indicated. Against that, though, Gary Longwell helped Ireland to four steals on the Samoan throw, a couple of them big ones near the line.
Nor did the backs click, and handling errors cum turnovers - coupled with Ramage's whistle, denied Ireland's game much in the way of continuity. Relative to the amount of possession they had, Ireland again translated this heavily into the new Holy Grail of territory. For the 27-21 minutes advantage they had in possession, according to the match stats, Ireland had a 52-29 per cent ratio of territory as Ronan O'Gara applied the full repertoire in a typically polished kicking game which pinned the Samoans into their own half.
In the circumstances, then, there were only a few winners individually. Uppermost amongst these were Geordan Murphy, who looked a class act in most of what he did. He took his try well, had a handsome hand in another and made a couple of big defensive plays. He availed of an unexpected opportunity and even if Shane Horgan regains fitness he will have given the Irish management a poser on the wing.
Even though confined to only the first 40 minutes, Eric Miller, too, continued to look to be in a rich vein of form, showing up at restarts, taking the ball up and tackling well in a high quality, industrious effort. Kieron Dawson also impressed with his work-rate, his tackling and some adroit continuity work at the breakdown, while Peter Stringer's service and cover tackling again underlined his value to the team.
For the one debutant, Jeremy Staunton, there was a well-taken try and some inventive, positive moments going forward, set against basic mistakes such as missed tackles, a kick out on the full and perhaps a wrong option when going for the line himself with an overlap outside.
As expected, too, the Samoans were particularly dangerous when attacking from broken play and the Irish midfield was a mite more porous than is usually the case. Hence, it was no mean achievement keeping Samoa to eight points, even if this was partially due to the visitors' failure to support the runners or put away the final pass.
For all the Samoans' reputation as the world's biggest hitters, the Irish tackling, especially at the outset, was as important a statement of intent as anything they did with the ball. Anthony Foley, as he's done in the past, drew the line in the sand with a bearhugging, turnover-inducing tackle on the rumbling Samoan lock, Opeta Palepoi.
Kicking to the corners and taking their three-points, Ireland were twice kicked into the lead either side of a penalty by Earl Va'a; the second also earning a yellow card for Tomatu Leupolu for "negative play" when preventing release of ruck ball. Making the numerical advantage tell, an excellent steal by Longwell and an ensuing drive off the same player earned Frankie Sheahan a try, which O'Gara converted.
O'Gara began sniping himself as gaps appeared but for all their close-in forward pressure Ireland had to be content with just another penalty from the outhalf, while they were also grateful for some excellent recovery defending by Stringer (twice), Staunton, Murphy and Dawson to prevent break-out tries after searing breaks by Inga Tuigamala and Brian Lima.
Six minutes after the resumption O'Gara skip passed to Maggs, whose reverse pass co-incided with Staunton's good line to score on the cutback, O'Gara converting. They came knocking again when Murphy was very harshly penalised for not releasing, though Samoa deserved the pitch-length try which followed from Steven So'ioalo's quick tap. Their captain Semi Sititi and right-winger Lome Fa'atau made some big yardage before the latter linked with his fellow winger Afato So'oalo.
Brian O'Driscoll, always a threat though largely feeding off scraps, weighed up his options from O'Gara's cut-out pass to chip perfectly to the corner for the pacey Murphy to score. From another O'Gara skip pass the winger then came off his wing, Staunton providing the link for Howe to score on the outside by the corner flag in classic winger's mode. A good score.
At the end, then, Ireland had found their range to some extent. A satisfactory day at the office then. No more, no less.
Scoring sequence: 6 mins - O'Gara pen 3-0; 9 - Va'a pen 3-3; 11 - O'Gara pen 6-3; 20 - Sheahan try, O'Gara con 13-3; 38 - O'Gara pen 16-3; (half-time 16-3); 46 - Staunton try, O'Gara con 23-3, 59 - So'oalo try 23-8; 68 - Murphy try 28 -8; 78 - Howe try, O'Gara con 35-8.
IRELAND: J Staunton (Garryowen & Munster); G Murphy (Leicester), B O'Driscoll (Blackrock College & Leinster), K Maggs (Bath), T Howe (Dungannon & Ulster); R O'Gara (Cork Constitution & Munster), P Stringer (Shannon & Munster); E Byrne (St Mary 's College & Leinster), F Sheahan (Cork Constitution & Munster), J Hayes (Shannon & Munster), M Galwey (Shannon & Munster), G Longwell (Ballymena & Ulster), E Miller (Terenure College & Leinster), A Foley (Shannon & Munster, capt), K Dawson (London Irish). Replacements: T Brennan (Barnhall & Leinster) for Miller, S Easterby (Llanelli) for Foley (half-time), P Clohessy (Young Munster & Munster) for Hayes, G Easterby (Llanelli) for Stringer, M Mullins (Young Munster & Munster) f or O'Driscoll (69).
SAMOA: T Vili (Wellington); L Fa'atau (Wellington), B Lima (Swansea), V Tuigamala (Newcastle), A So'oalo (Christchurch); E Va'a (Southland), S So'ioalo (Wellington); T Leupolu (Auckland), J Meredith (Auckland), J Tomuli (Colomiers), K Viliamu (Waikato), O Palepoi (Wellington), S Vaili (Auckland), G Stowers (Counties), S Sititi (Cardiff, capt). Replacements: Temp - F Lalomilo (Marist, St Joseph's) for Vaili (14-21 mins) and for Tomuli (64-71); S Leaega (Bologna) for Va'a (53), A To'oala (Rotherham) for Stowers (70), P Segi (Auckland) for Vaili (76), T Vaega (Exeter) for Tuigamala (79). Sinbinned: Leupolu (11-21 mins)
Referee: I Ramage (Scotland).
