Preview: Ireland v USA
HIGH FLYING: Fresh from a historic win over New Zealand, Ireland will be out to end November Test Series on a high note when they host the USA on Saturday.
Ireland have been in fine form securing the Grand Slam, bagging the June Test series against the Wallabies in Australia and a win this weekend will be Joe Schmidt’s 11th victory in 12 outings this year.
A win will also extend their record home Test winning run to 12 – they have won 17 of their last 18 Tests in all – against the Americans.
The hosts certainly head into the next year’s World Cup with a massive favourites tag.
Schmidt’s future with Ireland has made recent headlines with loads of newspaper dubbing the coach the number one candidate to replace Steve Hansen as All Blacks coach after the World Cup.
However, one thing that Schmidt should look at before the event is building some depth and it seems like the coach will use the Dublin Test as an ideal platform to give fringe players some valuable game time.
In terms of team structure, Garry Ringrose is the only starter from Ireland’s epic victory over world champions New Zealand to be included in the starting XV for Saturday’s one-off rugby union Test with the United States.
The 23-year-old centre returned to the starting line-up for the 16-9 win over the All Blacks after missing the Argentina game with a head injury.
Schmidt has opted for a fresh half-back partnership of Joey Carbery and John Cooney filling the flyhalf and scrumhalf posts respectively.
Flank Josh van der Flier, who started against the All Blacks, is on the replacements bench as is prop Cian Healy.
The likes of star flyhalf Johnny Sexton and captain Rory Best are rested completely with Rhys Ruddock taking the captain’s armband instead.
The USA, coached by South African Gary Golden, are also on a good winning run. They have won nine successive victories which includes wins over the liked of Scotland, Samoa, Canada and recently Romania.
Gold has made three changes to the side that delivered a 31-5 win over Romania last weekend.
One of the changes sees South African-born scrumhalf Shaun Davies returns to the starting XV, with Cheetahs scrumhalf Ruben de Haas taking a spot on the bench.
Another Saffa Hanco Germishuys comes in at flank.
While in the backline former Western Province back Marcel Brache shifts to wing with Will Hooley in at fullback.
“We know this weekend will present our greatest challenge yet with the Ireland side still buzzing from their historic victory over the All Blacks,” Gold said.
“Ireland will be relentless as ever this weekend and our guys have spent the last week ensuring that they approach Saturday’s game with the level of intensity that will put us in the best position to meet the fight,”
Players to Watch:
For Ireland: Garry Ringrose, ranked second best outside centre according to the RugbyPass Index, is one to look out for in this experimental team. Flyhalf Joey Carbery will be forced to dictate the play in the absence of one of the best flyhalves Johny Sexton. Among the forwards you can, with great excitement, keep an eye on flank Rhys Ruddock and lock Tadhg Beirne.
For the USA: Scrumhalf Shaun Davies will be out to dictate much of the play after missing the last weekend’s win. Flank Hanco Germishuys could also be a handful for the Ireland. While powerful Worcester Warriors hooker Joe Taufete’e will be out to bully the Irish pack.
Head to head: It will interesting to how USA’s flyhalf Will Magie and scrumhalf Shaun Davies test the quality of Joey Carbery and John Cooney. While the biggest battle will be the breakdown battle, as Jack Conan, Jordi Murphy and Rhys Ruddock of Ireland takes on Cam Dolan, Hanco Germishuys, and John Quill.
Recent results:
2017: Ireland won 55-19, Harrison
2013: Ireland won 15-12, Houston
2011: Ireland won 22-10, New Plymouth
2009: Ireland won 27-10, Santa Clara
2004: Ireland won 55-6, Dublin
2000: Ireland won 83-3, Manchester
1999: Ireland won 53-8, Dublin
1996: Ireland won 25-18, Atlanta
Predictions: Despite the experimental nature of the Ireland side, the hosts possessed enough firepower to end the November test Series on a high note. The USA might have been full os zest, however, Ireland will take the win by 30 points.
Teams:
Ireland: 15 Will Addison, 14 Andrew Conway, 13 Garry Ringrose, 12 Stuart McCloskey, 11 Darren Sweetnam, 10 Joey Carbery, 9 John Cooney, 8 Jack Conan, 7 Jordi Murphy, 6 Rhys
Ruddock (captain), 5 Iain Henderson, 4 Tadhg Beirne, 3 Finlay Bealham, 2 Niall Scannell, 1 Dave Kilcoyne
Replacements: 16 Rob Herring, 17 Cian Healy, 18 John Ryan, 19 Quinn Roux, 20 Josh van der Flier, 21 Luke McGrath, 22 Ross Byrne, 23 Sam Arnold
USA: 15 Will Hooley, 14 Blain Scully (captain), 13 Bryce Campbell, 12 Paul Lasiki, 11 Marcel Brache, 10 Will Magie, 9 Shaun Davies, 8 Cam Dolan, 7 Hanco Germishuys, 6 John Quill, 5 Nick Civetta, 4 Greg Peterson, 3 Paul Mullen, 2 Joe Taufete’e, 1 Titi Lamositele.
Replacements: 16 Dylan Fawsitt, 17 Chance Wenglewski, 18 Dino Waldren, 19 Samu Manoa, 20 David Tameilau, 21 Ruben de Haas, 22 Gannon Moore, 23 Ryan Matyas.
Date: Saturday, November 24
Venue: Aviva Stadium,
Kick-off: 18:30 (18.30 GMT, 12.30 USA time)
Expected weather: Mostly cloudy with a stray of showers – High of 9°C and low of 5°C
Referee: Ben O’Keeffe (New Zealand)
Assistant referees: Nic Berry (Australia), Marius Mitrea (Italy)
TMO: Ian Davies (Wales)
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Source: AFP & @rugby365com
