John Fallon reports from Red Bull Arena, New Jersey
KEITH EARLS USED all his experience to lead the way as Ireland opened their summer tour with a nine-try demolition of the USA on a warm evening in New Jersey.
But James Ryan made an instant impact, scoring a try less than 60 seconds after being introduced on an evening when he joined Brian O’Driscoll as a player who has played for Ireland before lining out for Leinster.
Ireland had the game in the bag by the interval with five tries giving them a 29-7 interval lead in the warm evening sunshine in New Jersey.
Earls grabbed two of those tries and came close a couple of times to completing his hat-trick as the USA struggled when Ireland broke at pace.
In fairness, the Eagles enjoyed most of the early pressure after Earls got his opening effort after less than three minutes down the right. But Ireland were more than capable of defending anything their hosts could throw at them, with full-back Tiernan O’Halloran constantly leading good count-attacks on an evening when Joey Carbery came in for a lot of late hits.
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Ryan Byrne / INPHO
Ryan Byrne / INPHO / INPHO
It was an uncomfortable evening for the out-half who twice had clearance kicks blocked for USA tries, in addition to missing three of his opening five conversions.
Jacob Stockdale crowned his debut with a try after 15 minutes before Earls got his second and while Nic Civetti pulled one back for the Eagles, Ireland finished the half strongly.
Good pressure saw Earls set Kieran Marmion for his second Irish try after hooker Niall Scannell got his first international score after a good lineout drive to leave it 29-7 at the break.
Jack Conan extend the lead shortly after the restart before Carbery, whose evening was later cut short with a leg injury, again being blocked for an Eagles try, with ex-Dolphin player John Quill punishing him with their second try.
Centre Ryan Matyas got a third try for the USA, cutting the gap to 36-19 heading into the final quarter.
Both sides emptied their benches with Dave Heffernan, Andrew Porter, Rory Scannell and Ryan coming on to make their debuts, with Earls setting him up for a dream start to his international debut
Luke McGrath got Ireland’s eighth try after being set up by Devin Toner with Rory Scannell, having missed from in front of the posts with Ryan’s try, adding the conversion to take them to the 50 points mark before Simon Zebo wrapped it up in the closing stages.
Scorers for USA:
Tries: N Civetta, J Quill, R Matyas
Conversions: AJ MacGinty [2]
Scorers for Ireland:
Tries: K Earls (2), J Stockdale, N Scannell, K Marmion, J Conan, James Ryan, L McGrath, S Zebo
Conversions: J Carbery [2 from 5], G Ringrose [1 from 1], R Scannell [2 from 3]
USA: Ben Cima (Bryce Campbell ’61); Mike Te’o, Ryan Matyas, Marcel Brache (Will Magie ’28-36 HIA), Martin Iosefo (Will Magie ’51); AJ MacGinty, Nate Augspurger (Shaun Davies ’51); Ben Tarr (Joe Taufete’e h-t), Peter Malcolm (James Hilterbrand h-t), Chris Baumann (Paddy Ryan ’46); Nick Brakeley, Nic Civetta (Andrew Durutalo ’46); John Quill, Tony Lamborn (Matt Jensen h-t), David Tameilau.
Ireland: Tiernan O’Halloran (Jacob Stockdale ’72); Keith Earls, Garry Ringrose, Luke Marshall, Jacob Stockdale (Rory Scannell h-t); Joey Carbery (Simon Zebo ’51), Kieran Marmion (Luke McGrath ’61); Cian Healy (Dave Kilcoyne ’51), Niall Scannell (Dave Heffernan ’51), John Ryan (Andrew Porter ’51); Quinn Roux (James Ryan ’61), Devin Toner; Rhys Ruddock (c), Josh van der Flier (Dan Leavy ’72), Jack Conan.
Referee: Luke Pearce (England).
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Earls a class apart as Ireland run in 9 tries against USA
Updated at 08.00
US Eagles 19
Ireland 55
John Fallon reports from Red Bull Arena, New Jersey
KEITH EARLS USED all his experience to lead the way as Ireland opened their summer tour with a nine-try demolition of the USA on a warm evening in New Jersey.
But James Ryan made an instant impact, scoring a try less than 60 seconds after being introduced on an evening when he joined Brian O’Driscoll as a player who has played for Ireland before lining out for Leinster.
Ireland had the game in the bag by the interval with five tries giving them a 29-7 interval lead in the warm evening sunshine in New Jersey.
Earls grabbed two of those tries and came close a couple of times to completing his hat-trick as the USA struggled when Ireland broke at pace.
In fairness, the Eagles enjoyed most of the early pressure after Earls got his opening effort after less than three minutes down the right. But Ireland were more than capable of defending anything their hosts could throw at them, with full-back Tiernan O’Halloran constantly leading good count-attacks on an evening when Joey Carbery came in for a lot of late hits.
It was an uncomfortable evening for the out-half who twice had clearance kicks blocked for USA tries, in addition to missing three of his opening five conversions.
Jacob Stockdale crowned his debut with a try after 15 minutes before Earls got his second and while Nic Civetti pulled one back for the Eagles, Ireland finished the half strongly.
Good pressure saw Earls set Kieran Marmion for his second Irish try after hooker Niall Scannell got his first international score after a good lineout drive to leave it 29-7 at the break.
Jack Conan extend the lead shortly after the restart before Carbery, whose evening was later cut short with a leg injury, again being blocked for an Eagles try, with ex-Dolphin player John Quill punishing him with their second try.
Centre Ryan Matyas got a third try for the USA, cutting the gap to 36-19 heading into the final quarter.
Both sides emptied their benches with Dave Heffernan, Andrew Porter, Rory Scannell and Ryan coming on to make their debuts, with Earls setting him up for a dream start to his international debut
Luke McGrath got Ireland’s eighth try after being set up by Devin Toner with Rory Scannell, having missed from in front of the posts with Ryan’s try, adding the conversion to take them to the 50 points mark before Simon Zebo wrapped it up in the closing stages.
Scorers for USA:
Tries: N Civetta, J Quill, R Matyas
Conversions: AJ MacGinty [2]
Scorers for Ireland:
Tries: K Earls (2), J Stockdale, N Scannell, K Marmion, J Conan, James Ryan, L McGrath, S Zebo
Conversions: J Carbery [2 from 5], G Ringrose [1 from 1], R Scannell [2 from 3]
USA: Ben Cima (Bryce Campbell ’61); Mike Te’o, Ryan Matyas, Marcel Brache (Will Magie ’28-36 HIA), Martin Iosefo (Will Magie ’51); AJ MacGinty, Nate Augspurger (Shaun Davies ’51); Ben Tarr (Joe Taufete’e h-t), Peter Malcolm (James Hilterbrand h-t), Chris Baumann (Paddy Ryan ’46); Nick Brakeley, Nic Civetta (Andrew Durutalo ’46); John Quill, Tony Lamborn (Matt Jensen h-t), David Tameilau.
Ireland: Tiernan O’Halloran (Jacob Stockdale ’72); Keith Earls, Garry Ringrose, Luke Marshall, Jacob Stockdale (Rory Scannell h-t); Joey Carbery (Simon Zebo ’51), Kieran Marmion (Luke McGrath ’61); Cian Healy (Dave Kilcoyne ’51), Niall Scannell (Dave Heffernan ’51), John Ryan (Andrew Porter ’51); Quinn Roux (James Ryan ’61), Devin Toner; Rhys Ruddock (c), Josh van der Flier (Dan Leavy ’72), Jack Conan.
Referee: Luke Pearce (England).
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The big talking points as Ireland beat USA in New Jersey
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