Joe Schmidt caught everyone at unawares with this team selection for Canada. Despite, seemingly, bringing inside centre cover to the World Cup in the shape of Darren Cave and Ian Madigan, Luke Fitzgerald wore number 12 in place of the injured Robbie Henshaw as Ireland cruised to an impressive 50-7 victory.
"I thought Luke did really well at 12," said Schmidt. "(There was) his distribution to give Dave Kearney a bit of space for his try and defensively I thought he was really sound.
“Ball carrying is a strength of Luke’s anyway. There was a scrum in the first half where he punched a half gap to give us real gain over the advantage line and put them under pressure straight away. He mixed that with some pretty good distribution and very good defence; he stays alive very well in defence, he has good alertness, he communicates really well.”
Schmidt confirmed that Cave will feature against Romania at Wembley Stadium in the next Pool D outing on Sunday week.
Johnny Sexton's mostly controlled and dominant 55 minutes may have been recognised with the official man of the match award but the major bonus for Ireland, and change from Schmidt's starting Six Nations team, is Iain Henderson. The 23-year-old was phenomenal, yet again, with 13 carries for the hardest 39 metres, three offloads and 11 tackles.
“Iain’s ability to carry, as you saw today, and get over the advantage line is a big plus for us, particularly as players start to tire in the opposition. But even when they’re not tired, he’s still a bit of a handful. He did really well today.
“He also gets through a fair bit of defensive work. I don’t know if you tracked him at all around the pitch but his tactical effectiveness was right up there as well. So, I felt his contribution was very solid for us.”
Sexton, Schmidt noted, will probably focus more on the intended pass for Dave Kearney that he flung into touch or missing the conversion of his try, after running an inside line off Seán O’Brien, or that rare kick that bounced out on the full.
“I think he passed 500 points [513 including his try for the Lions against Australia] in international rugby, which is a real milestone for him. It’s hugely deserved for the amount of effort he puts in to make sure he’s prepared.
“He will reflect on the game; the first wide pass he made looped into touch. It was a perfect opportunity, it was the right decision but he didn’t quite affect it accurately enough so he will probably chastise himself for that in amongst about 30 really positive involvements.
“That’s the way he is driven. That’s the way he drives the team which is a real bonus as well.”
Meanwhile, Paul O'Connell absolved referee Glen Jackson of any blame for his 42nd-minute sin-binning.
“There was a ruck, I shot up. There was a little bit of offloading as I was coming back, I went for the intercept but I found out when I was in the dressing room I was offside initially at the ruck, so fair call.”
Canada coach Kieran Crowley identified Ireland's 10 minutes without their captain, when they conceded zero points, and Canada's disastrous 17th to 28th minute period without Jamie Cudmore, when Ireland amassed 19 points, as the crucial periods of the encounter.
“I was just trying to stop the try and the ball squirted out – someone kicked it or whatever,” said Cudmore of his blatant act of playing the ball on the ground.
“That’s on me.”
No injuries were reported by the Ireland management. The squad move on to The English FA’s national football centre, St George’s Park, in Burton-upon- Trent.
