Ireland XV demolish Fiji after Craig Gilroy stakes claim with three tries

Ireland XV 53-0 Fiji
Craig Gilroy scores a try for Ireland XV against Fiji
Craig Gilroy scores one of his three tries for an Ireland XV against Fiji as the wing staked a claim for the grander stage of Dublin. Photograph: Peter Morrison/AP

Eight tries and a clutch of new players unveiled told of a night of Irish satisfaction down in Limerick. It was pretty enough and nobody in green did himself any harm, but as part of this segment of the season, supposedly given over to Test rugby, it was irrelevant. Fiji are exporters of rugby talent, supplying willing workhorses to the clubs of the world, but suffer when the time comes to reassemble themselves as a national team.

They offered little here beyond their opening "bole", an energetic and co-ordinated invitation to enter a physical contest. That was the start and the finish of their challenge. In the cold and wet of south-west Ireland in November and with at least two dozen of their countrymen contractually bound elsewhere, Fiji were exposed for what they are, hastily assembled and on a hiding for nothing.

Ireland awarded no caps for this fixture, more because of some commercial small print in the contracts of their own than a regretful acknowledgement of the state of Fijian rugby, but the Ulster core of their three-quarter line was too strong for the visitors. Luke Marshall looked full of daring and composure and Craig Gilroy also staked a claim for the grander stage of Dublin.

By the beginning of the second quarter, Ireland had scored three tries, through Gilroy, Fergus McFadden and Sean Cronin, and the steam had gone out of the contest. It was now a question of concentration, of keeping Irish attacking discipline intact as Fiji's defensive appetite waned. Darren Cave made the point that there were two Ulster centres on show by scoring a fine solo try, picking the ball off his toes and side-stepping through.

If there was any spice left in the contest it was sprinkled only through frustration, Fiji having Timoci Matanavou sent to the sin-bin, and Tuapati Talemaitoga going there later. A tip-tackle and a late challenge: nothing too serious.

Ireland began the second half with a surge, McFadden going over for his second try and opening up the possibility that the final tally could place a strain on the scoreboard. The game at that point slumped into scrappiness, as these one-sided nonevents often do, and the only interest was in the yellow cards. Chris Henry trotted off for a repeated technical offence, an Irish contribution to the tatty conclusion.

At least Ireland put a finishing sheen on their display, with Gilroy scoring two more tries for a hat-trick and Luke Marshall crossing for the try that carried his team beyond the half-century. It was all very satisfactory with regard to a job well done, and all very unsatisfactory with regard to the place of this fixture in the November schedule. Fiji deserve to be helped, for they have long been pioneers of an exuberant style. As recently as 2007 they beat Wales to earn themselves a place in the World Cup quarter-final, where they gave South Africa a rare old fright too. But taking them to Limerick for a non-Test game does not help at all. This was good for Ireland but not for rugby.