Rusty Ireland hold back USA Eagles to win 2011 their Rugby World Cup opening encounter
The Irish will be relieved as they finally manage to get a win under their belt, following their disastrous performances in their pre-rugby world cup encounters. The Irish were playing their first game of the tournament against the USA Eagles at Yarrow Stadium, New Plymouth on Sunday, September 11. Ireland defeated Eagles 22 – 10 to register their first win of the tournament.
Both teams started the match slowly as the rivals took a while to settle, probably to ease their nerves. The Irish started the match as favourites, however, they were made to work hard by the Eagles to earn their points and victory eventually.
The Irish were first to register points on the scorecard courtesy of their fly half Jonathan Sexton’s 15th minute penalty kick. In the remaining part of the first half, both teams tried their best to score. However, only the Irish were able to add a few points to their tally courtesy of their winger Tommy Bowe’s 39th minute try. Sexton followed with his conversion to take the scorecard reading 10 – 0 at the end of the first-half.
Eagles started the second-half trailing by 10 points and in the initial passage of the play they showed urgency in their game. Eagles registered their first points in the match courtesy of their winger James Paterson’s 53rd minute penalty. However, Irish retained the ball possession and started to dominate the proceedings.
Irish sent their hooker, Rory Best, to score their second try of the match in the 55th minute of the game to extend their lead by 12 points. They failed to capitalise on the conversion, but regained control the possession of both ball and territory.
In the 59th minute of the game, Bowe scored his second try of the game to take the scorecard reading 20 – 3. Sexton followed his successful conversion to extend the lead to 19 points. In the remaining passage of the play, both teams tried their hard to register more points on board, but they failed to do so.
In the last minute of the game, Eagles centre Paul Emerick scored their first try, which was followed by Paterson’s conversion to take the scorecard reading 22 – 10, which remained the same at full time.
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