It's hard not to get excited about this tour opener, even if we perhaps shouldn't. Mistakes there were a few, indeed far too many to mention in a particularly edgy first-half. Yet, allowing for the limited opposition, during the third quarter and a little beyond, Ireland played a brand of fluid, fast-paced, 15-man running rugby that has never been seen from the boys in green before.
They were never going to click from the opening kick-off, but from the moment Keith Wood received the restart to the second period to the moment David Humphreys landed a conversion seven minutes later, Ireland scored two tries and came within a tugged arm of scoring a third. New South Wales Country hardly got a touch.
Ireland maintained the momentum to tag on a couple more tries and ultimately, from the 33rd to the 67th minutes, scored 37 unanswered points. They may well have taken the performance onto another plateau against slightly punch-drunk opponents, and would assuredly have hit 50 or more but for the understandable plethora of substitutes.
As much as some of Ireland's first-half performance will have disappointed both the management and the players, nothing about their second-half display will have surprised them. They know they are well capable of it now.
Collectively, it was a clear continuation of the hard work and impressive training before and on tour. Individually, many of the new component parts worked impressively as well, perhaps the most eye-catching of which was the midfield combination of Mike Mullins and Brian O'Driscoll.
Both were hungry for work, were penetrative and pushed up hard and effectively in the three-quarters' defensive line, as did the wings. Aside from his defence and some crunching tackles, O'Driscoll also ran hard and distributed very well, providing a couple of try-scoring passes and adding a touchline conversion. This exceptional 20-year-old centre is set to be the star turn of the tour.
Robert Casey took a big bow up front, Tom Tierney was crisp and authoritative, and timed his one snipe superbly to score the opening try, while even Jeremy Staunton's inventive little cameo (completing a never-to-be-repeated poker of Irish under-19, under-21, `A' and senior appearances in one year at the age of 19) confirmed the impression that these boys are made for this Ireland side. David Humphreys ran the running game deftly and there were also a couple of tries for the fast-finishing Matt Mostyn.
Victor Costello's hard-running marked a return to form; even more eye-catching was his willingness and ability to off-load like never before. Though he hobbled off with an ankle injury, he expects to be fine in a couple of days. Keith Wood is noticeably fresher looking than the stale figure running on empty a year ago.
Nonetheless, the pack's skill levels, in the first-half primarily, weren't up to scratch, and despite his good hands, Peter Clohessy's days as an auxiliary out-half are surely numbered.
`Country', or to give them their proper title (and we'll do this only once), the New South Wales IAMA Country Cockatoos, won the toss and so Ireland kicked off on a still, balmy winter's night in the Woy Woy Oval, about 90 kilometres north of Sydney. Immediately, the irritating handling errors began to flow. Admittedly the train-as-you-play philosophy can never create a match-night environment. On Sunday night's session not a ball was dropped, however, having initially opted, sensibly, for one-ruck rugby with Humphreys kicking to the corners, mistakes cropped up the more Ireland sought to broaden their scope.
Hence, a dozen or more knockons (albeit made with positive intentions in mind) undermined the platform of a good line-out where Wood's darts regularly found Casey in the middle or Jeremy Davidson (usually at six).
Furthermore, Country prevented continuity by continually spoiling Irish rucks, although at least this enabled Humphreys to exchange penalties with Julian Moreton in the first quarter. There were a few scary moments; Girvan Dempsey unable to judge a wicked bounce which in turn led to the recovering Matt Mostyn tripping over O'Driscoll and Tierney slicing his touch kick short off the regrouped ruck.
Finally, Ireland found a recycling rhythm of their own past the half-hour mark. Beginning with Dempsey's counter-attack, sustained handling led to O'Driscoll straightening the line brilliantly and providing a target over the gain line. Costello broke off the side and from the recycle Tierney struck stealthily.
Humphreys's boot pushed Ireland to a satisfactory 16-6 lead after referee Wayne Erickson yellow-carded Fava for persistently killing ball.
Ireland's response was even more effective, Warren Gatland orchestrating a half-time change of tack whereby rucks were kept to a minimum as off-loads were made earlier, the blind side was explored more and Girvan Dempsey, who had been too deep, began hitting the line with some great angles.
From Wood's kick-off reception and the ruck which followed, Dempsey came hard on to O'Driscoll's pass and the latter was in support to gather the pass off the deck, draw Moreton and put Mostyn away. Classy.
Mullins and Wood then charged off the former's quick penalty, Humprheys probed the blind side and Corkery had his arm tugged over the line as he gathered his own kick ahead, though a pass inside to Mostyn would have done the trick.
Compensation was swift after Dempsey and then Mostyn hit the line at pace on opposite flanks, Ward atoning for ignoring a two-to-one overlap by at least finding Costello off the deck for a cheekily taken try in the corner.
Ten minutes later, pressure defence, and bursts from Clohessy and Peter Wallace, enabled O'Driscoll to take Humphreys's skip pass and put Corkery over, via a meaty hand-off. A big hit by Mullins then resulted in Wallace extravagantly finishing his burst with a long try-scoring pass to Mostyn - his fourth try in two Irish appearances.
All told, a good benchmark, while still leaving plenty of room for improvement too. Worth getting at least a little excited about really.
Scoring sequence: 6 mins: Moreton penalty 3-0; 9: Humphreys penalty 3-3; 18: Moreton penalty 6-3; 20: Humprheys penalty 6-6; 33: Tierney try, Humphreys conversion 6-13; 37: Humphreys penalty 6-16; 41: Mostyn try 6-21; 47: Costello try, Humphreys conversion 6-28; 57: Corkery try 6-33; 60: 0'Driscoll penalty 6-36; 67: Mostyn try, O'Driscoll conversion 6-43.
NEW SOUTH WALES COUNTRY: J Moreton; E Needham, J Grant, M Alexander, L Job; J Lancaster, S Merrick; D Nowlan, G Koerstz, W Petty, J Nowlan, M Mitchell, J Quinn, J Whittle (capt), S Fava. Replacements: J Ives for Koerstz (35 mins), V Talasi for Job (54 mins), M Luitas for Petty (65 mins), J Lind for Quinn (69 mins), D Flannery for Lancaster (73 mins), N Tyson for Luitas (79 mins), J Pickthall (80 mins).
IRELAND: G Dempsey (Terenure College); J Bishop (London Irish), B O'Driscoll (Blackrock), M Mullins (Young Munster), M Mostyn (Buccaneers); D Humphreys (Dungannon), T Tierney (Garryowen); J Fitzpatrick (London Irish), K Wood (Harlequins, capt), P Clohessy (Young Munster), R Casey (Blackrock College), J Davidson (Castres), D Corkery (Cork Constitution), V Costello (St Mary's College), A Ward (Ballynahinch). Replacements: P Wallace (Saracens) for Fitzpatrick (49 mins); J Staunton (Garryowen) for Humphreys (59 mins); R Nesdale (Newcastle) for Wood (59 mins); D O'Cuinneagain (unattached) for Costello (52 mins); J Bell (Dungannon) for Dempsey (65 mins); T Brennan (St Mary's College) for Davidson (68 mins).
