Dempsey in cruise control

Russia 3 Ireland 35

Ireland planted one foot firmly in next year's World Cup finals with a comfortable victory in their potentially difficult World Cup qualifying encounter against Russia.

Four tries, two in the first half from full-back Girvan Dempsey plus efforts from Keith Wood and Malcolm O'Kelly in the second, laid the foundations for a win cemented by the kicking of Ronan O'Gara.

The Irish, who had endured an 18-hour journey on Thursday from their Irish base to this eastern Siberian city, got off to an ideal start when Dempsey latched on to a second-minute crossfield kick from O'Gara to touch down in the corner. O'Gara missed the conversion but soon sent over two penalties in succession to put an end to a spell of Russian pressure.

Dempsey popped up again in the 29th minute, providing a passing option outside right- wing John Kelly and touching down in the corner for his second try. This time O'Gara converted and Ireland were 18-0 and set fair. Irish coach Eddie O'Sullivan's side were not performing without problems however, with their line-outs in particular trouble.

The Irish seemed intent on finishing the Russians off as the game restarted and were firmly on the offensive as the second half began.

But they had to wait 13 minutes before they were rewarded. That was when captain Keith Wood charged over the line after fine work by Keith Gleeson. O'Gara converted, and the lead was stretched again eight minutes later when O'Kelly got on the scoresheet with his fourth international try.

O'Gara was once more on target with the conversion and another successful penalty kick, his third out of three, eased the Irish into a 35-0 lead with 12 minutes of the match to go and the contest over.

O'Sullivan further drew the sting out of the game by throwing on all seven substitutes to wind down the clock. The final moments, however, belonged to the Russians as they got their first points with a 78th-minute penalty from their replacement kicker, the South African-born Werner Pieterse.

But Ireland ultimately took the plaudits, despite the late sin-binning of Reggie Corrigan for a high tackle, andare on track for the World Cup. They face Georgia at Lansdowne Road on Saturday while the Russians travel to Tbilisi on 13 October.

Russia: A Zakrlyuk; A Kuzin, A Sergeyev, A Korobeynikov, I Dymchenko; K Rachkov, V Motorin; O Shukaylov, R Romak, J Hendricks, V Fedchenko, S Sergeyev, V Grachev, Vyachelav Zykov, R Volschenk. Replacements: A Travkin, I Nikolaychuk, M Uambayev, I Budnikov, W Pieterse, P Novikov, A Khrokin.

Ireland: G Dempsey; J Kelly, B O'Driscoll, K Maggs, D Hickie; R O'Gara, P Stringer; R Corrigan, K Wood (capt), J Hayes, G Longwell, M O'Kelly, S Easterby, A Foley, K Gleeson. Replacements: S Byrne, P Wallace, L Cullen, A Quinlan, G Easterby, D Humphreys, R Henderson.

Referee: J Jutgé (France).