By Cathal Dervan

Ireland 61
Pacific Islands 17

Ireland said goodbye to Lansdowne Road and in some style with a demolition job of their own against the Pacific Islanders on Sunday, the final international before the bulldozers move in on the oldest ground in world rugby.

An emphatic eight try performance from the home side maintained their 100% record in the autumn internationals as Eddie O’Sullivan’s side prepared for the forthcoming Six Nations championship in devastating fashion.

The Pacific Islands, a touring side made up of players from Tonga, Fiji and Samoa, were never in the class of previous Lansdowne fall guys South Africa or Australia, a fact illustrated by the nine changes to O’Sullivan’s starting team.

But this was a day when many of those on the periphery of Ireland’s first choice team stood up to be counted, none more so than Ulsterman Paddy Wallace, who proved there is life after David Humphreys.

Wallace, currently playing at center for his province in the Heineken Cup, is now seen as the natural understudy to Irish out-half Ronan O’Gara after this 26 point haul on his first start in the green shirt.

The number 10 hit 26 points in all with a try, six conversions and three penalties on an impressive afternoon’s display that should have sealed his place in the 2007 World Cup squad.

And Wallace wasn’t the only player to make an impression as Simon Easterby (two), Denis Hickie, Malcolm O’Kelly, Shane Horgan, Rory Best and Paul O’Connell all touched down.

Naturally coach O’Sullivan was happy to come out of the autumn with a clean sweep of wins ahead of the countdown to the Six Nations which begins in February with the mouth watering prospect of an opening day fixture away to Wales followed by the visit of France to Croke Park.

“I’m happy with the autumn internationals on the basis we produced three good performances and three good wins,” O’Sullivan told reporters. “We got as much out of the autumn as we possibly could and overall I’m delighted with our performances.

“We used 26 players over the three games so we were able to look at some new guys as well. It was a good month’s work and there is a lot of stuff in the bank that will stand us in good stead for the Six Nations.”

The players and O’Sullivan went on a lap of honor to mark the end of Lansdowne Road as it is presently know. “It was an emotional afternoon. The significance of what was happening really hit me when we arrived on the team bus,” O’Sullivan said.

“One of the officials who shakes the players’ hands as they walk into the stadium mentioned it would be the last time he did it and at that point it really hit home for me.

“It was a good result. Over the years Lansdowne Road has been worth at least seven points to us because there has always been so much emotion between the ground, team and fans. This was a great way to finish things.”

As for Wallace, O’Sullivan said, “Paddy had a super game at 10. It was a hard game to control, but he managed it. His kicking off the ground was excellent.”

Luke Fitzgerald, Jamie Heaslip and Stephen Ferris also made their Test debuts on Sunday and O’Sullivan added, “Luke did very well. The Islanders’ backs are fast footballers. Luke did very well and dropped into full-back when Girvan Dempsey went off.

“He could have backed himself a bit more, if I wanted to be critical. He needs to pin his ears back and go. It’s still a learning curve for him, but he showed he’s capable of playing Test rugby.

“Jamie and Stephen did well in a match that was brutal at times. They made some hard yards and defended well.”

Man of the match Wallace said, “It was a good day at the office for me. I’m delighted. I’ve worked hard with my coach on my goal-kicking over the past four weeks and it’s paid off today.

“I’m coming into a winning team with a lot of confidence. So it was easy for me with Shane Horgan and Brian O’Driscoll taking a lot of pressure off me — I was lucky to have them today.

“It was also great to be involved in the send-off to Lansdowne Road. It was very emotional out there at the end and I was privileged to be part of it.”

Pacific Islands coach Pat Lam was also praiseworthy of the home team and said, “They will definitely be favorites for the Six Nations and are in a good place with the World Cup coming up.”

Ireland: Dempsey; Fitzgerald, O’Driscoll, Horgan, Hickie; Wallace, Stringer; Young, Sheahan, Hayes, O’Connell, O’Kelly, Easterby, Ferris, Heaslip. Replacements: R. Best, S. Best, O’Callaghan, Leamy, Boss, O’Gara, D’Arcy.