Ireland 62-12 Russia as it happened

Full-time wrap:

It's all over in Rotorua and Declan Kidney will be happy with a job well done. It wasn't perfect, but you can't argue with nine tries, a bonus point win and a clean bill of health.

We were able to call our front-liners ashore with plenty of time remaining and some of the fringe players, notably Sean Cronin, Donnacha Ryan and Paddy Wallace, stood up to the plate. Ronan O'Gara was awarded man of the match, but against a team as inexperienced and callow as the Russians, it was child's play for the veteran out-half.

Italy pose the next challenge for Ireland and although they will represent significantly tougher opposition than the Russians, Ireland should be ready for the Azzurri challenge and determined to qualify as pool winners. That's all from me for now, I'm heading back to bed for a few hours. Thanks for tuning in and enjoy the rest of the day.

86'

FULL-TIME

Sexton misses an easy conversion and the cameras pan to Ronan O'Gara on the bench looking for a reaction. O'Gara's too cute for that though, even though Sexton's kicking difficulties remain a worry going forward.

Plenty of gambling folk out there breathing a sigh of relief as Tony Buckley crashes through a few tired Russian bodies to get over the line. it will do him the world of good as well, himself and Sean Cronin can be happy with their performances in the front row.

TRY IRELAND (BUCKLEY) IRELAND 62-12 RUSSIA

Ireland get a penalty and go for the scrum five metres out.

With less than five minutes left, there are probably a few people sweating over whether or not Ireland can beat the handicap. They're only one point away now and are in control a few metres from the Russian line.

CONVERSION IRELAND (SEXTON) IRELAND 57-12 RUSSIA

Well, that's been coming for the last few minutes. Russia have been tiring as this game and 3 games in 11 days begins to take its toll. Jennings' first try in an Irish jersey coming after a pick and go close to the Russian line after more good expansive build-up from Ireland.

TRY IRELAND (JENNINGS) IRELAND 55-12 RUSSIA

What a shame. Scintillating rugby from Ireland, lovely offloading by backs and forwards with Jamie Heaslip particularly prominent. It went forward off Tony Buckley in the end, but if that had resulted in a try, it would have been fabulous.

Eoin Reddan also on in place of Isaac Boss at scrum half.

O'Gara doing his chances of starting against Italy no harm with yet another fine kick. Just as I type, Johnny Sexton comes on to take his place.

CONVERSION IRELAND (O'GARA) IRELAND 50-12 RUSSIA

Lovely try from Ireland. Murphy got the ball rolling from Ireland's half, Donnacha Ryan and Paddy Wallace did very well to bring it on, O'Gara and Trimble spread it wide to Kearney, who had the simple task of grounding the ball in the corner.

TRY IRELAND (KEARNEY) IRELAND 48-7 RUSSIA.

O'Gara's ambitious pass goes abegging and Ireland let another scoring opportunity slip. Back on the attack once again, though.

Better from our lads. Denis Leamy makes a lovely break and probably should have released Sean Cronin at the last minute, but was pulled down and Ireland have to make do with a penalty. A quick flash to the Ireland coaches shows Gert Smal's disgust with Leamy. Alan Gaffney didn't look too happy either.

Ireland won't be happy with their defence on that occasion. Three players surrounded Denis Simplikevich on the wing, but fiar play to the 20-year old debutant, he showed serious strength to power over under pressure. Ireland gone a bit ragged in the last while.

TRY RUSSIA (SIMPLIKEVICH) IRELAND 43-12 RUSSIA

Looks like another try for Russia, maybe that handicap bet isn't so safe after all. TMO to decide.

Sean O'Brien off, Shane Jennings on. No surprise really.

The handicap for Ireland, by the way is - 46 points. It was one of four bets we recommended this weekend and although the gap is now 36, you'd fancy Ireland to make up the deficit by the end of the game. If it comes through, it would be 3 out of 3 so far, with American football coming later on. We tipped a 33/1 accumulator last weekend, can we repeat the trick this time around?

Lovely moment for Vasily Artemyev considering his connection with Ireland, Leinster and Blackrock College. He too his try really well, stepping inside O'Brien and then Kearney before touching down. Kearney's knee seemed to buckle in the attempted tackle but thankfully, he seems OK after treatment.

CONVERSION RUSSIA (RACHKOV) IRELAND 43-7 RUSSIA

TRY RUSSIA (ARTEMYEV) IRELAND 43-5 RUSSIA

Lovely inside step from Earls to breach a static Russian defence and once he put the foot down there was no stopping him. Another man that's looked lively today and his reward is being taken off immediately, with Geordan Murphy coming on in his place. Cian Healy also withdrawn with Mike Ross replacing him.

CONVERSION IRELAND (O'GARA) IRELAND 43-0 RUSSIA

TRY IRELAND (EARLS) IRELAND 41-0 RUSSIA

Denis Leamy on for O'Callaghan as Kidney begins to empty the bench early. Donnacha Ryan moves to the second row and Leamy fills in at six.

Andrew Trimble running some super lines today, but his latest burst is spoiled by a forward pass from Rob Kearney. Kearney, incidentally, has looked very lively today.

Is Sean O'Brien the best ball-carrier in the world right now.? Brent Pope says that's the talk in New Zealand at the moment after last week's tour de force against the Wallabies and he's certainly doing his reputation no harm today. He mightn't last for much longer today though. Teams are back out on the pitch.

Half-time wrap:

Don't think we could have asked for more than that. Five tries scored, bonus point secured, game already over and some decent performances from some of the stand-ins to boot.

Now is the time to wrap the likes of Cian Healy, Donncha O'Callaghan, Sean O'Brien, Jamie Heaslip, Keith Earls and Rob Kearney in cotton wool and concentrate on Italy.If you're still struggling to keep your eyes open, you can go back to bed, this is a done deal.

HALF-TIME

Russians seem bemused at the awarding of that try but I don't know why. A good move by Ireland was slapped back on their own side and Trimble took advantage to touch down for his first try of the night.

TRY IRELAND (TRIMBLE) IRELAND 36-0 RUSSIA

Bonus point secured and O'Gara nails a really difficult conversion to boost the confidence. Job done and it's not even half time.

CONVERSION IRELAND (O'GARA) IRELAND 31-0 RUSSIA

TRY IRELAND (EARLS) IRELAND 29-0 RUSSIA

Keith Earls goes over in the left corner after being released by Trimble down the wing. Questions over whether the pass from Trimble was forward or whether Earls' foot was in touch, but we should never have had any doubt. Try given.

CONVERSION IRELAND (O'GARA) IRELAND 24-0 RUSSIA

TRY IRELAND (BOSS) IRELAND 22-0 RUSSIA

Isaac Boss thinks he has scored a try right under the posts and referee Craig Joubert goes to the TMO. Boss very cute, touching the ball against the base of the padding on the posts, which is a try, and it is duly given.

Penalty Ireland on the 22. Thought O'Gara might have taken on the kick seeing as we haven't had a score in a while, but the tap penalty is the option instead.

A couple of Irish moves beginning to break down in the last few minutes, as we try and take an expansive approach. The much-maligned Paddy Wallace has impressed in midfield so far.

Sean O'Brien incensed after being headbutted on the ground by one of the Russian forwards. He'll store that in the memory bank for later.

Russia sorting out their defence at long last and keeping Ireland out from close range again. Ireland without a score for the last 15 minutes or so.

O'Gara aims a cross kick towards Trimble on the far wing, but it is intercepted by Ostroushko, who dashes down the wing only to be held up by O'Callaghan. Ireland back on the attack again in the Russian 22.

Good work from Donnacha Ryan to snaffle the ball after extended Russia pressure. Better from the opposition, they seemed like rabbits caught in the headlights earlier on.

Throw wasn't straight and Ireland get off the hook.

Excellent attack from the Russians, spreading it wide and earning the penalty after being held up close to the line on the left hand side. Despite difficulties in the lineout so far, they go to the corner...

Finally RTE commentary seems to be in sync with the footage. They must have been five seconds or more ahead of the play for McFadden's try.

Opportunity lost, Ireland penalised for offside and Russia clear to halfway.

Penalty Ireland after numerous Russian infringments at the breakdown. Ireland go to the corner again looking to really hammer home their advantage.

Penalty against Tony Buckley in the scrum already. It's been said often in the past about Mushy, but he needs to exert himself more in an Irish jersey.

CONVERSION (O'GARA) IRELAND 17-0 RUSSIA

Russia are at sixes and sevens in defence. Earls and Cronin with a couple of good bursts, O'Brien takes it up and when he's at full pace, he's nigh on impossible to stop. Credit to Ireland for ruthless approach so far.

TRY IRELAND (O'BRIEN) IRELAND 15-0 RUSSIA

CONVERSION IRELAND (O'GARA) IRELAND 10-0 RUSSIA

Lovely try from McFadden. Boss feeds O'Gara from the scrum, O'Gara pings a lovely cross kick to the far side, it is gathered well by McFadden who touches down for a try on his World Cup debut. Ireland completely dominant in the opening ten minutes. This is what we wanted to see.

TRY IRELAND (MCFADDEN) IRELAND 8-0

Yellow card for Russia already. Out-half Konstantin Rachkov deservedly binned for a deliberate knock-on as Ireland looked dangerous down the left wing. Ireland with a scrum five metres out after a dominant set-piece. Russians collapse the maul and Ireland look to assert their supremacy in the scrum.

PENALTY IRELAND (O'GARA) IRELAND 3-0 RUSSIA

Sean O'Brien with a typical barnstorming run and Ireland are only a couple of metres short under the posts. Ireland get a penalty for offside even though Donnacha Ryan looked as if he got over the line just before the whistle. Easy chance for O'Gara to put points on the board.

RTE commentary way ahead, at least 2 seconds ahead, of the play at the moment which is very annoying.

We're underway.

Leo Cullen leads the Irish team out. Studio lads reckon that substitutions could be made early to wrap some of our main men in cotton wool ahead of the Italy game. Have we learned no lessons from USA and from the games against the minnows four years ago. Let's make sure it's won first and then start worrying about substitutions.

Rotorua is a sea of green at what is a nice early evening kick-off time of 6pm in New Zealand, giving the Irish supporters plenty of time to check out the Rotorua hostelries afterwards. By now they have probably got used to the sulphuric smell that surrounds the place, which is similar to slightly gone-off eggs owing to the geysers and geothermal activity in the area. That's my geography lesson over for the time being. Just under ten minutes to go until kick-off.

Pretty patronising approach by messrs McGurk and Hook in the RTE studio. What's the hardest Russian name to pronounce? Tom asks George. Hook, of course, mentions the Irish connection in the Russian team today. Full-back Vasily Artemyev went to school in Blackrock College and represented Ireland at colleges level, while lock Adam Byrnes is a former Leinster man.

The Russians aren't given much of a hope by the lads, prevention of injury and a good performance of some of those on the fringe of first team selection is seen as the priority. Great atmosphere but terrible conditions in Rotorua.

Yawwwwnnnn. Good morning folks and welcome to our coverage of Ireland's Pool C clash with Russia in Rotorua. It may be an absolutely ridiculous hour, but whether you've been devoted enough to rise from your slumber or are still burning the midnight oil from last night, we'll try and keep you entertained.

After the epic victory over the Aussies last week, the Russians should be mere cannon fodder for Declan Kidney's men, but we've said that in the past only to be eating our words afterwards. Nice mix selected by Declan Kidney with some fringe members given an opportunity to shine and some of our more regular starters given the game time required to get up to full speed.

A reminder of the teams for you below. Around half an hour to go until kick-off, I'm about to prepare myself a cup of steaming hot tea and will be back with you shortly.

Ireland: Robert Kearney; Fergus McFadden, Keith Earls, Paddy Wallace, Andrew Trimble; Ronan O'Gara, Isaac Boss; Cian Healy, Sean Cronin, Tony Buckley; Donncha O'Callaghan, Leo Cullen; Donnacha Ryan, Sean O'Brien, Jamie Heaslip.

Replacements: Rory Best, Mike Ross, Denis Leamy, Shane Jennings, Eoin Reddan, Jonathan Sexton, Geordan Murphy

Russia: Vasily Artemyev; Denis Simplikevich, Andrey Kuzin, Sergey Trishin, Vladimir Ostroushko; Konstantin Rachkov, Alexander Yanyushkin (captain); Sergey Popov,  Valery Tsnobiladze,  Alexander Khrokin; Denis Antonov, Adam Byrnes; Artem Fatakhov, Andrey Garbuzov, Victor Gresev.

Replacements: Evgeny Matveev, Ivan Prishchepenko, Alexey Travkin, Alexander Voytov, Andrey Bykanov, Mikhail Sidorov, Mikhail Babaev.