Winning Start For Ireland

Ireland kicked off their summer tour with a 55-19 victory against the USA on Saturday at the Red Bull Arena in New Jersey.

Man-of-the-match Keith Earls scored two tries and had three assists as he increased his international tally to 24 tries, scoring 7 tries in 8 appearances this season.

There were a number of firsts on the night as prop John Ryan made his first start, hooker Niall Scannell scored his first international try and brother Rory made his Ireland debut coming on at the start of the second half.

After making the switch to out-half the younger Scannell added two conversions and provided the hanging cross-field kick for Simon Zebo’s try in the closing minutes.

With Munster’s six representatives all playing their part, the provincial ties didn’t end there with John Quill and Paddy Ryan both lining out for the USA team.  Corkman Quill scored a try of his own after blocking down a Carbery kick early into the second half, while fellow Corkonian, Highfield’s Paddy Ryan made his debut off the bench.

The Ireland squad now move on to Japan for the next leg of the summer tour.

Ireland Scorers:

Tries: K Earls (2), J Stockdale, N Scannell, K Marmion, J Conan, James Ryan, L McGrath, S Zebo.

Conversions: J Carbery (2/5), G Ringrose (1/1), R Scannell (2/3)

Ireland: Tiernan O’Halloran (Jacob Stockdale 72); Keith Earls, Garry Ringrose, Luke Marshall, Jacob Stockdale (Rory Scannell HT); 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 Capt., Josh van der Flier (Dan Leavy 72), Jack Conan.

Fixtures:

Japan v Ireland, Saturday 17th June, Ecopa Stadium, Shizuoka KO 6am (Irish times)

Japan v Ireland, Saturday 24th June, Ajinomoto Stadium, Tokyo, Japan KO 6.40am