Second string struggle to find fluency

Ireland A 46 USA 9: In searching out the positives from an Irish perspective in last night's Churchill Cup clash it was down to the individual rather than the collective.

Keith Earls, Cian Healy, Neil Best, Roger Wilson and Denis Hurley were the pick of an Ireland team whose collective display might charitably be described as erratic.

The final margin on the scoreboard flattered Ireland somewhat, albeit that their second half performance was appreciably better than the first with replacements David Pollack, Frank Murphy and Sean Cronin contributing to the upturn in fortunes.

Ireland's performance in the first half was undermined by countless errors, primarily losing ball in contact but also failing to clear out aggressively at ruck time. This left scrumhalf Tomas O'Leary vulnerable to the US Eagles counter-rucking and he was caught on several occasions.

The lineout was also a shambles with little or no organisation and it was only at scrum time that the Irish side exerted any dominance. This facet of play led to one of their two tries in the opening 40 minutes with referee Federico Cuesta awarding a penalty try on 30 minutes after twice penalising the Americans at a five metre scrum.

Ireland had taken the lead on 12 minutes with a try from Kieran Lewis, his centre partner Earls running a great cutback from Jonathan Sexton's clever inside pass before offloading for Lewis to scamper over. Sexton missed the conversion - he tagged on the extra points after the penalty try - having earlier failed with a long range penalty.

American outhalf Mike Hercus kicked two penalties from three attempts to leave the USA trailing 12-6 at the interval before adding a third on 50 minutes after yet another Irish turnover at a lineout.

The arrival of Sean Cronin at hooker from the replacements bench made an immediate impact as captain Bob Casey caught a lineout that ended with Best forcing his way over leaving the score at 17-9.

The Northampton bound Irish flanker grabbed a typically muscular second try on 65 minutes - Sexton had kicked a penalty five minutes earlier - to push Ireland out to 25-9.

Replacement Irish scrumhalf Frank Murphy plunged over for a fifth try on 78 minutes with Ian Keatley adding the conversion and just 60 seconds later wing Mark McCrea added a sixth with Keatley posting the conversion. In injury time a 14 man USA side conceded a seventh try to Hurley with Keatley converting.

Scores

Ireland A: Tries: Lewis, Penalty, Best 2, F. Murphy, D. Hurley, McCrea. Cons: Sexton, Keatley 3. Pens: Sexton.

USA: Pens: Hercus 3.

Ireland A: D. Hurley, McCrea, Lewis, Earls, Tuohy, Sexton, O'Leary, Healy, Fogarty, Ross, Casey, Caldwell, Best, O'Connor, Wilson. Replacements: Keatley for Sexton (70), F. Murphy for O'Leary (56), Cronin for Fogarty (52), Court for Ross (68), Hogan for Casey (68), Ryan for Caldwell (60), Pollock for O'Connor (49).

USA: Wyles, Ngwenya, Emerick, Esikia, Boyd, Hercus, Petri, MacDonald, Crick, Moeakiola, Weidemer, Doyle, Clever, Lett, Schubert. Replacements: Sika for Esikia (52), Malifa for Hercus (77), Shaw for Petri (70), Laulaupealu for Crick (77), Aylor for Lett (68).

Sin Bin: MacDonald (77).