Ireland prepared for this weekend’s best of Northern versus best of Southern Hemisphere Croke Park clash with South Africa with a five-try demolition of Fiji at a wet and windy RDS on Saturday evening.

There was much to admire about the manner of this Irish triumph, not least the outstanding debut of debutant fly-half Jonathan Sexton, whose flawless place-kicking yielded five conversions and a brace of penalties.

To have achieved a 10 per cent return in quite horrific conditions was notable in itself and had that been the extent of the 24 year-old’s contribution in his first appearance on the full international stage, even that would have been impressive.

That was but part of the story, however, for Sexton’s all-round game was excellent. He passed equally comfortably off either hand; he broke often and always with effect, his line kicking was exemplary as was weight and placement of out-of-hand chips. It was the perfect debut and one that suggested that Ronan O’Gara now faces a real fight if he is to hold on to the number 10 jersey.

Ireland will face far better opposition than Fiji. The South Sea islanders deserve credit for having climbed to 10th in rugby’s world rankings, a quite remarkable feat for a nation whose population is just 840,000 and whose football talent is so far flung as to make time together well nigh impossible. Saturday’s 15 starters included representatives of 14 clubs.

Ireland have no such problems, witness six Leinster colleagues in the seven backs who lined out at the the RDS, something which undoubtedly helped Sexton enormously, as did the fact that the match was played on his home pitch.

The victors played well in most facets and certainly the week they put in after the 20-20 draw with Australia was time well spent. Even allowing for the fact that the Fijians are a lesser power than the Wallabies, this was a slicker display.

Jamie Heaslip and Stephen Ferris each moved it up a gear and produced their best displays of 2009/10 to date.

And Ferris’s Ulster colleague, Tom Court, had a highly productive evening in the setpiece and broken play, showing up all over the park and making some great tackles.

Indeed it was his excellent support which earned the penalty ultimately leading to the 17th minute try scored by Keith Earls whose line of running completely foxed the Fijian defence.

The four post-interval scores came from captain Brian O’Driscoll, who pounced to intercept a pass by Bath and Fiji’s Nicky Little, the much-travelled and vastly experienced fly-half Earls, who got in a second time after a clever switch by O’Driscoll and

Gordon D’Arcy created a three-on-two overlap wide left, a Rob Kearney try confirmed following video consultation and, at the death, a Shane Horgan finish.

In truth there might well have been more; certainly D’Arcy ought to have put Horgan away late in the first half following a stunning break by Sexton, and Andrew Trimble went close, only to be thwarted by some desperate Fijian defence when he entered the fray late on.

That said, Ireland showed they, too, could defend, most notably during a spell of concerted pressure with 10 minutes remaining. There was a real resolution not to allow their line to be breached and that collective will and determination augur well for the future.

The loss of Denis Leamy, injured at the start of the second half, was a blow which Ireland must absorb. One senses that they will.

Next up? The World champions. Now that’s going to be very, very interesting.

IRELAND: R Kearney; S Horgan, B O’Driscoll, G D’Arcy, K. Earls; J Sexton, E Reddan; T Court, J Flannery, J Hayes; L Cullen, P O’Connell; S Ferris, D Leamy, J Heaslip. Replacements: S O’Brien for Leamy (44 mins), T O’Leary for Reddan (58), T Buckley for Hayes (65), A Trimble for O’Driscoll (74), D O’Callaghan for O’Connell (76 ), S Cronin for Flannery (80), P Wallace for Kearney (stoppage time).

FIJI: Ligairi; Goneva, Lovobaluva, Bai, Roko; Little, Rauluni; Tarogi, Veikoso, Seuseu; Lewaravu, Rawaga; Satala, Qera, Boko. Replacements: Nagusa for Ligairi (52), Ledua for Tarogi (65), Dewes for Veikoso (65), Nakarawa for Rowaga (68), Bola for Qera (69).

Referee: Marius Jonker (South Africa)