Sexton guides Ireland to Canada win

Sep 19, 2015 - 4:32 PM Jonny Sexton scored a try, three conversions and a penalty as Six Nations champions Ireland routed Canada 50-7 to open their World Cup campaign.

In severe warning to Pool D rivals France and Italy, Ireland were superior to Canada in every facet of the game after a tight opening quarter of an hour.

They notched up four first-half tries - and a bonus point in the pool standings - through Sean O'Brien, Iain Henderson, Sexton and David Kearney, three of which were converted by Sexton.

Three more tries through Sean Cronin, Kearney and Jared Payne completed the demolition in the second half.

"We handled the ball really well and played some really good rugby," said captain Paul O'Connell playing down Ireland's superiority.

He said the win had helped Ireland get over their World Cup "nerves."

The first try came when Canada captain Jamie Cudmore had been yellow carded for a ruck infringement, and left the Canucks with too big a mountain to climb at 29-0 down at half-time at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium.

The bonus point could be key in a pool whose winners will likely avoid champions New Zealand in the quarter-finals.

Sexton was key to everything Ireland did, playing deep in the pocket and opting to use a backrow forward as a midfield loop-around target to unleash the dangerous looking Irish backs in a series of well-oiled moves.

While complacency was not quite put to one side in the second-half, O'Connell was yellow carded and Canada knuckled down in defence before Sean Cronin crossed for Ireland's fifth, DTH Van Der Merwe scored a consolation try before Rob Kearney and Jared Payne wrapped things up.

Source: AAP