Russia fell to their third-straight defeat at the Rugby World Cup on Sunday, crushed 62-12 by Ireland.
Ireland exploited the Bears' characteristic poor discpline and weak set pieces to register nine tries on the way to victory, which puts the Irish top of Pool C, overtaking leaders Australia. Russia remain bottom, after defeats to Italy 53-17 and the United States 13-6.
Fergus McFadden opened the scoring for the Irish, with Sean O'Brien, Isaac Boss, Keith Earles and Andrew Trimble completing a five-try first half. A second for Earles and tries for Rob Kearney, Shane Jennings and Tony Buckley finished off the Bears.
Russia had just reward for sustained periods of possession, scoring two second-half tries through Vasily Artemyev and Denis Simplikevich.
Ireland made 10 changes to the lineup that beat Australia 15-6, but still found the Russia test relatively straight forward in the pouring rain in Rotorua.
Russia started dismally. With No. 10 Konstantin Rachkov sin binned for persistent fouling after just eight minutes, Ireland moved the ball around quicker than the Bears could organise their defensive line.
Ronan O'Gara kicked into the corner for McFadden to slide in and touch down on 10 minutes.
Then, O'Brien collected the ball 10 metres out and skipped through to register Ireland's second try.
It took the Bears 20 minutes to gain any kind of momentum, with their dynamic No. 8 Victor Gresev leading the charges into Irish territory; but several multiphase moves ended in penalties for Ireland due to unforced infringments.
Russia managed to hold the Irish at bay until the dying minutes of the half, when the Irish touched down three times in three minutes.
Ireland scrum half Isaac Boss scored their third on 37 minutes, grabbing the loose ball from the back of the ruck and pushing the ball against the bottom of the post.
A minute after, Keith Earles darted down the left flank after collecting a pass that appeared to go forward but beat Denis Simplikevich to the corner to touch down.
Then Andrew Trimble pounced on a knock back by the offside Andrey Garbuzov to complete the first-half scoring.
Earles touched down early in the second half after dummying to pass out left and evading a diving tackle by Russia's Artem Fatakhov.
Russia got return for their resistance, however, when Gresev surged foward again to offload to Artemyev, who sidestepped two Irish tackles to touch down.
A second try followed, for debutant Denis Simplikevich, who brushed off two tackles down the left to crash down over the line. Vladimir Ostroushko bisected the Irish defence to create the opening.
Ireland regrouped, though, and Jamie Heaslip hurled a long pass over Russian heads to release Rob Kearney to score in the corner.
A very direct Ireland move ended in a try for Shane Jennings five minutes from the end, and Buckley bundled over at the death to end the rout.
Ireland next face Italy on October 2, while the Bears' last match is against Australia on October 1.
