Ireland brushes aside Canada 40-14
Stand-in coach Les Kiss believed Ireland achieved what it wanted from a tour.
TORONTO (AP) - Winger Fergus McFadden scored a hat trick of tries as Ireland routed Canada 40-14 at BMO Field late Saturday.
Canada was confident of a first win over Ireland after the weakened tourists beat the United States only 15-12 in Houston last weekend. A crowd of 20,396, the biggest for a test in Canada, roared when Canada's only try put the hosts 14-12 ahead in the 46th minute.
But the vastly improved Irish hit back with four of their six tries.
McFadden helped set up the first try for fellow wing Andrew Trimble, marking his 50th cap, and McFadden scored the second off a cross-kick by flyhalf Ian Madigan. But James Pritchard kicked three penalties in the half to overtake Gareth Rees as Canada's leading point-scorer in tests to leave Canada only 12-9 behind at halftime.
Flanker Tyler Ardron barged over to begin the second half and give Canada the lead, but it lasted only nine minutes when Ireland flanker Kevin McLaughlin broke the defense and put in center Darren Cave. The forwards set up McFadden for his second try, flanker Tommy O'Donnell busted the line and ran 20 meters untouched to the posts, and McFadden completed the romp with his hat-trick try.
"We're very disappointed," Canada coach Kieran Crowley said. "We had a couple of things we wanted to play but we couldn't do it under the pressure they put us on."
Stand-in coach Les Kiss believed Ireland achieved what it wanted from a tour in which it capped six new players.
"From a coaching perspective it was certainly encouraging on a lot of fronts," Kiss said. "Sometimes the perception is you can come and get these tier two nations and run it away easily but they were both tough affairs."
