Ireland beat Canada 50-7 in their Pool D clash at the Millennium Stadium
Last Updated: 19/09/15 8:25pm
Ireland wrapped up their bonus-point win by half-time as they cantered to a convincing 50-7 win over Canada.
Jamie Cudmore's cheap yellow card gifted Ireland the ideal World Cup start as they scored three tries in the Canada captain's absence to lead 29-0 at half-time.
Sean O'Brien, Iain Henderson, Jonny Sexton and Dave Kearney all crossed over in the first half to claim the bonus point but had to wait until the 65th minute before scoring their fifth.
However when Sean Cronin did go over it opened the floodgates as Rob Kearney and then Jared Payne went over in quick succession. Man of the match Sexton added three conversions and a penalty while his replacement Ian Madigan added two conversions.
Canada's points came from a DTH van der Merwe try while Nathan Hirayama added the conversion.
Lynchpin Sexton hit top form as Ireland sauntered home, shrugging off a lacklustre set of warm-up matches which ended in consecutive defeats to Wales and England.
Cudmore's yellow card killed any chance of a Canada upset, the captain given his marching orders for handling in the ruck on his line and when O'Brien powered over from a lineout driving maul, Canada knew they were in trouble.
Henderson powered home for Ireland's second try moments later, after another punishing scrum from Joe Schmidt's men.
Sexton exchanged passes with O'Brien to race away for Ireland's third, Canada completely overwhelmed by Cudmore's sin-binning. Dave Kearney sauntered in for Ireland's bonus-point fourth score with five minutes to spare in the half.
Van der Merwe thought he had scored for Canada at the death of the half, but Nathan Hirayama's tap-pass travelled forward and the try was chalked off.
Ireland handed themselves the worst possible opening to the second half, captain Paul O'Connell sin-binned for cynically intercepting the ball from an offside position.
The Toulon-bound player's interjection may have been instinct, but it still proved costly.
Ireland were able to ride out Canada's initial wave of attacks, but the match fractured badly with the error count rising steadily.
Canada were unable to take advantage of O'Connell's sin-binning however, Ireland holding impressively firm.
Ian Madigan replaced Sexton ahead of the hour, a clear statement of satisfaction from taskmaster boss Schmidt. Bigger challenges await and Schmidt knows full well Ireland will struggle to function without Sexton's wit and acumen.
Cian Healy joined the fray on the hour, his first outing since neck surgery in May. Jebb Sinclair celebrated wildly in dotting down over the line, only for his effort to be ruled out for a clear offside.
Cronin burrowed home for Ireland's fifth try with a quarter-hour left on the clock, Madigan posting the conversion too.
Van der Merwe claimed an intercept try to console the hard-working Canadians who fought throughout to play open and flowing rugby.
The Scarlets wing raced away after Payne booted the ball straight into his arms at point-blank range.
Canada threatened again, but Ireland forced a turnover and raced the length of the field, Keith Earls outpacing John Moonlight before floating a fine scoring pass to Rob Kearney.
Earls broke again, this time through the centre, before sending Payne home for Ireland's seventh score. Ireland launched one further attack, Healy knocking on in attempting to ground for the score.
