Rampant Ireland thrash USA

Ireland scored nine tries as they secured a resounding 55-19 win over the USA in New Jersey on Saturday.

As expected, the Irish dominated proceedings from the get-go despite fielding a lineup that included five debutants, with Keith Earls scoring a brace of tries in the first half as the visitors raced into a 29-7 lead at the break.

At that point, with the result effectively sealed, it was always going to be interesting to see whether Ireland would be able to maintain their intensity and accuracy after the restart.

It initially appeared to be the case when Jack Conan went over for Ireland's sixth try in the 44th minute, but the hosts then hit back with tries to John Quill and Ryan Matyas, which added to the first-half effort of Nic Civetta.

However, Ireland finished emphatically, with James Ryan, Luke McGrath and Simon Zebo all scoring during the final quarter to complete an emphatic win.

USA – Tries: Nic Civetta, John Quill, Ryan Matyas. Conversions: AJ MacGinty (2).
Ireland – Tries: Keith Earls (2), Jacob Stockdale, Nial Scannell, Kieran Marmion, Jack Conan, James Ryan, Luke McGrath, Simon Zebo. Conversions: Garry Ringrose, Joey Carbery (2), Rory Scannel (2).
 
USA – 15 Ben Cima, 14 Mike Te’o, 13 Ryan Matyas, 12 Marcel Brache, 11 Martin Iosefo, 10 AJ MacGinty, 9 Nate Augspurger (c), 8 David Tameilau, 7 Tony Lamborn, 6 John Quill, 5 Nic Civetta, 4 Nate Brakeley, 3 Chris Baumann, 2 Peter Malcolm, 1 Ben Tarr.
Subs: 16 James Hilterbrand, 17 Joe Taufete’e, 18 Paddy Ryan, 19 Matthew Jensen, 20 Andrew Durutalo, 21 Shaun Davies, 22 Will Magie, 23 Bryce Campbell.

Ireland – 15 Tiernan O'Halloran, 14 Keith Earls, 13 Garry Ringrose, 12 Luke Marshall, 11 Jacob Stockdale, 10 Joey Carbery, 9 Kieran Marmion, 8 Jack Conan, 7 Josh van der Flier, 6 Rhys Ruddock (c), 5 Devin Toner, 4 Quinn Roux, 3 John Ryan, 2 Niall Scannell, 1 Cian Healy.
Subs: 16 Dave Heffernan 17 Dave Kilcoyne, 18 Andrew Porter, 19 James Ryan, 20 Dan Leavy, 21 Luke McGrath, 22 Rory Scannell, 23 Simon Zebo.

Photo: Ramsey Cardy/Getty Images

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Craig Lewis