USA Team vs Ireland

[frntline]

US Eagles lineup:
15 â€" Chris Wyles (Saracens FC)
14 â€" Kevin Swiryn (Old Puget Sound Beach RFC)*
13 â€" Junior Sifa (Middleton RFC)
12 â€" Roland Suniula (Pearl City RFC)*
11 â€" Justin Boyd (Dallas Harlequins RFC)
10 â€" Mike Hercus (Sunshine Coast Stingrays)
9 â€" Mike Petri (New York Athletic Club) Captain

1 â€" Mike MacDonald (Leeds Carnegie RFC)
2 â€" Chris Biller (California)*
3 â€" Will Johnson (Oxford University)*
4 â€" John Van Der Giessen (Denver Barbarians RFC)
5 â€" Hayden Smith (Saracens FC)
6 â€" Louis Stanfill (New York Athletic Club)
7 â€" Peter Dahl (Belmont Shore RFC)*
8 â€" Nic Johnson (Denver Barbarians RFC)*

Replacements:
16 â€" Joe Welch (Belmont Shore)
17 â€" Matekitonga Moeakiola (Park City Haggis)
18 â€" Courtney Mackay (Counties Manukau)
19 â€" J.J. Gagiani (Univ. of Cape Town)
20 â€" Tim Usasz (Nottingham RFC)*
21 â€" Ata Malifa (Belmont Shore RFC)*
22 â€" Alipate Tuilevuka (Provo Steelers)



Seems like a VERY different back line from what we've seen before but i like to see Kevin Swiryn and Hayden Smith in the squad. This also considering most of our professional players aren't even being considered. And something I know alot of people are having a problem understanding why Nigel Melville scheduled this test on the same day of the Super League final!

Considered but unavailable: (13)
Todd Clever (Golden Lions), Paul Emerick (Overmach Parma), Troy Hall (Old Blue RFC), Brian Lemay (Boston Irish Wolfhounds RFC), Samu Mona (San Francisco Golden Gate RFC), Taku Ngwenya (Biarritz Olympic) Mike Palefau (Las Vegas RFC), Thretton Palamo (San Francisco Golden Gate RFC) Euan Sadden (Old Blue RFC), Kort Schubert (Olympic Club Rugby), Salesi Sika (Castres), Ben Weidemer (Belmont Shore RFC) Matt Wyatt (New York Athletic Club Rugby)

 

[An Tarbh]

Ireland only show 1 change to the XV which beat Canada last weekend, Ross comes in at tighthead with Buckley switching to the loose.

IRELAND: Gavin Duffy (Galwegians/Connacht); Barry Murphy (UL Bohemians/Munster), Darren Cave (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster), Ian Whitten (Ballymena/Ulster), Ian Dowling (Shannon/Munster); Ian Keatley (Galwegians/Connacht), Peter Stringer (Shannon/Munster); Tony Buckley (Shannon/Munster), Rory Best (Banbridge/Ulster) (capt), Mike Ross (Harlequins), Bob Casey (London Irish), Mick O'Driscoll (Cork Constitution/Munster), John Muldoon (Galwegians/Connacht), Niall Ronan (Shannon/Munster), Denis Leamy (Cork Constitution/Munster).

Replacements: Sean Cronin (Buccaneers/Connacht), Tom Court (Malone/Ulster), Ryan Caldwell (Dungannon/Ulster), Donnacha Ryan (Shannon/Munster), Eoin Reddan (London Wasps), Niall O'Connor (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster), Denis Hurley (Cork Constitution/Munster).

 

[Thingimubob]

guessing Clever unavailable because he should be invovled for the match vs the Lions on wednesday?
btw, is this match today?

 

[An Tarbh]

yeah kickoff is today at 9pm Irish time.

 

[monkeypigeon]

Internet has failed me...any links that anyone else has found?

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

I'm looking forward to this. It's a great opportunity for Mike Ross in particular.

Of the Eagles, I'll be watching Louis Stanfill closely. He's a very talented player in my opinion and should pick up a pro contract somewhere.

 

[monkeypigeon]

It's cool. I've got one!

 

[An Tarbh]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Monkeypigeon @ May 31 2009, 10:05 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

Internet has failed me...any links that anyone else has found?[/b]

if you've internet with Eircom you can watch online on their website.

 

[An Tarbh]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (snoopy snoopy dog dog @ May 31 2009, 10:06 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

I'm looking forward to this. It's a great opportunity for Mike Ross in particular.

Of the Eagles, I'll be watching Louis Stanfill closely. He's a very talented player in my opinion and should pick up a pro contract somewhere.[/b]

Ross is the one to watch, in fairness he did look good in the A match against Scotland where he and Healey raped the Scottish scrum that night so hopefully more of the same and Buckley not to be a lazy sod.

 

[An Tarbh]

early miss for Keatley, Morris not up to date that he'd already changed his kicking technique.

 

[An Tarbh]

good work off the lineout and decent break from Whitten but having gone through the phases Stringer slowed everything down and consequently gave the US more time to regroup and Dowling gets pinged for holding on, although that US defender made no effort to roll away.

 

[An Tarbh]

Casey with the try off the rolling maul, oh what a thing of beauty!

 

[An Tarbh]

marginally crooked my arse, couldn't do anything but blow that one White.

 

[An Tarbh]

daft play from Ireland closing the gap in the lineout after a quality kick from Keatley to put them in prime attacking position.

 

[monkeypigeon]

Nice try and good gapspotting by Keatley. Nice of Best to give it out when he could easily have smasked through. has a nice swerve on him too.

 

[feicarsinn]

think he may have been protecting his shoulder there tbh.

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

Shite game. Only Tony Buckley can be happy with his performance over each of the last two weeks.

Overall the tight 5 get a pass grade, the backrow was awful (particularly Muldoon) having been outplayed by the Eagles, Stringer was ponderous, Keatley has talent but is still very raw, Whitten and Cave can't pass and are a couple of years from being internationals in a full strength squad, Dowling proved what many suspected (he's not up to this level), Murphy showed flashes and was Ireland's 2nd best performer while Duffy only played because of the unavailability of 5 or 6 fullbacks who are ahead of him in the pecking order. Is Denis Hurley the luckiest player to win a cap for Ireland?

The Churchill Cup squad is stronger than the test lineup. Hopefully players like Sean O'Brien, Cian Healy, Johnny Sexton, Johne Murphy, James Downey and Chris Henry (among others) make a better fist of things than Muldoon, Ross, Keatley, Dowling, Whitten (despite his two tries) and Ronan.