USA

Ireland struggled to their second successive victory on their North American tour with a 27-10 win over the USA Eagles on Sunday afternoon.

Under-strength due to Lions and club commitments, Ireland failed to dominate their weaker opponents, leading just 8-0 at the break thanks to a Bob Casey try and an Ian Keatley penalty.

The Eagles too were without a number of their first choice stars, for a number of reasons, but still gave a very good account of themselves in new coach Eddie O'Sullivan's first game in charge.

Following an unimpressive win over Canada last weekend, Irish fans were looking for Rory Best team, with just one change to the starting lineup, to show a marked improvement this weekend in California. Unfortunately for coach Declan Kidney, while his team were probably never in danger of losing the game, the performance will still have left many people disappointed.

Full report to follow…

The Scorers

For USA

Tries: Suniula
Cons: Malifa
Drop: Malifa

For Ireland

Tries: Casey, Whitten, Penalty, Best
Pen: Keatley
Cons: Keatley 2

The Teams

USA: 15 Chris Wyles, 14 Kevin Swiryn, 13 Junior Sifa, 12 Roland Suniula, 11 Justin Boyd; 10  Mike Hercus, 9 Mike Petri (captain), 8 Nic Johnson, 7 Peter Dahl, 6 Louis Stanfill, 5 Hayden Smith, 4 John Van Der Giessen, 3 Will Johnson, 2 Chris Biller, 1 Mike MacDonald 
Replacements: 16 Joe Welch, 17 Matekitonga Moeakiola, 18 Courtney Mackay, 19 JJ Gagiano, 20 Tim Usasz, 21 Ata Malifa, 22 Alipate Tuilevuka.

Ireland: 15 Gavin Duffy, 14 Barry Murphy, 13 Darren Cave, 12 Ian Whitten, 11 Ian Dowling, 10 Ian Keatley, 9 Peter Stringer, 8 Denis Leamy, 7 Niall Ronan ,  6 John Muldoon, 5 Mick O'Driscoll, 4 Bob Casey, 3 Mike Ross, 2 Rory Best (captain), 1 Tony Buckley
Replacements: 16 Sean Cronin, 17 Tom Court, 18 Ryan Caldwell, 19 Donnacha Ryan, 20 Eoin Reddan, 21 Niall O'Connor, 22 Denis Hurley

Referee: Chris White (England)
Assistant Referees: Greg Garner (England), Dave Smortchevsky (Canada)