There have been worse Irish A performances but there have been better ones too. Ireland duly beat Canada at Ravenhill last night, but because of a general lack of penetration and opportunism, not by the kind of margin that seemed likely at one stage.
Both Ray Coughlan and Davey Haslett, the A team manager and coach, praised the Canadians' ball retention and commended the good Irish defence. Indeed, the first-up tackling was probably the highlight of the Irish performance, though the Canadians were unimaginative and strictly orthodox.
Ultimately, it was a solid if unexceptional and laboured Irish display. Few players would have made a compelling case for immediate promotion, although none of the selectors were in a position to be impressed as Pat Whelan and Donal Lenihan were fogbound in Dublin airport.
In the short-term, Brad Free's prospects of promotion to the bench as understudy to Conor McGuinness in Sunday's full international were cruelly scuppered when he was carried off and taken to hospital for X-rays on a suspected broken tibula.
In the longer-term, a few of the old reliables up front had solid games, most notably Gabriel Fulcher who gave another of his honest, all-purpose displays. Generally the set-pieces held up very well. Billy Mulcahy didn't miss his man once and the scrum was on top, if not quite yielding the pushover or penalty try two prolonged sequences of put-ins threatened.
Justin Fitzpatrick, Brian Cusack and Simon Easterby also gave some note of their potential. Fitzpatrick and Cusack made a number of big tackles in broken play and linked prominently to complement their solid set-piece work.
Out wide Darragh O'Mahony, on his less favoured wing, and John McWeeney did pretty well off limited opportunities. Ciaran Clarke did many things well and was solidity personified under the high ball and generally returned it with interest.
The sole source of midfield penetration came from Mick Lynch, when spotting a gap in Canada's drift defence, and he also created space out wide with one good long pass, as well as playing a key hand in the try when obstructing an opponent.
In an error-prone opening 10 minutes the Irish couldn't get a foothold with Burke missing a penalty to touch and Free overkicking two garryowens for position. So, despite four handling errors, the Canadians had a couple of early penalty chances - both of which were missed by Bobby Ross, playing at out-half instead of Gareth Rees who had gastro-enteritis. However, from a good passage of sustained ball retention, Ross went through an inviting blind-side gap between Alan Quinlan and Pat Duignan to score, and he added the conversion himself.
Fulcher at last brought Ireland into the game by winning the restart and the ensuing passage ended with Lynch losing the ball in the tackle as he went over the line. But, following a sniping break by Free and a close-in Burke penalty to touch, Corkery gathered Mulcahy's throw and Clohessy was at the end of the try-scoring drive.
Burke converted and then cancelled out a penalty by Ross after Clarke had just been forced into touch when released by Quinlan on the blind side; soon after the flanker himself lost the ball in contact as he dived over the line.
One of O'Mahony's intelligent defensive grubbers along the line - rather than forfeit the line-out throw - and Fulcher's snaffling of the ball in the maul, sparked another pitch-length surge which culminated in another Burke penalty.
Ireland broke again through Free from the base of a deep scrum to the Canadians' undermanned blind side. But he was nailed in every sense by the retreating Canadian number eight Colin McKenzie as O'Mahony continued the move deep into the 22.
Ireland renewed the offensive on the resumption. Burke missed one kickable penalty but pushed Ireland further ahead to 16-10 after Clarke had cleverly kept Ross's touch kick in play, returned it with a towering up-and-under of his own which McWeeney pounced on amid Canadian confusion.
Clarke was hauled down just short again when sent away by Lynch. Burke slotted another penalty in any case.
The high point - and the loudest cheer - of the night came with Ireland's sole creative try of the game. Clarke again fielded a high relieving kick, his strength in the tackle setting the ball up for McWeeney, Fulcher and Cusack in turn to keep it alive.
Burke orchestrated a dummy scissors with Lynch, who took out an opponent in the process and, breaking diagonally, found O'Mahony for the winger to break three tackles and score. Burke converted.
The Canadians were starting to puff heavily. But a series of tactical substitutions by their coach, former Irish international Pat Parfrey, revived them. The last 10 minutes were largely spent in the Irish 22, but the fringe tackling was excellent and at least they prevented that annoying Irish habit of conceding a late try.
Scoring sequence: 13 mins: Ross try, Ross conversion, 0-7; 19: Clohessy try, Burke conversion, 7-7; 22: Ross penalty, 7-10; 31: Burke penalty, 10-10; 35: Burke penalty, 13-10; 45: Burke penalty, 16-10; 54: Burke penalty 19-10; 68: O'Mahony try, Burke conversion, 26-10.
Ireland A: C Clarke (Terenure); D O'Mahoney (Moseley), P Duignan (Galwegians), M Lynch (Young Munster), J McWeeney (St Mary's); P Burke (Bristol), B Free (Saracens); J Fitzpatrick (London Irish), W Mulcahy (Skerries), P Clohessy (Young Munster), G Fulcher (London Irish) capt, B Cusack (Bath), D Corkery (Bristol), A Quinlan (Shannon), S Easterby (Leeds). Replacements: G Easterby (Rotherham) for Free (40 mins), (temporary) J Bishop (London Irish) for McWeeney (69-72 mins).
Canada: J Pagano; C Smith, C Robertson, R Toews, D Lougheed; B Ross, R Card; E Evans, K Morgan, J Thiel, T Healy, G Rowlands, J Hutchinson, C McKenzie capt, R Robson. Replacements - J Graf for Card (55 mins), A Charron for Robson (57 mins), M James for Rowlands (60 mins), W Stanley for Lougheed (66 mins).
Referee: C White (England).
