| Travis Prior

Nick Sero • June 10, 2017 • Tweet • Travis Prior

Travis Prior

HARRISON, N.J. - The world's fourth-ranked team, Ireland, scored nine tries at Red Bull Arena Saturday as the USA Men's Eagles opened the Emirates Airlines Summer Series with a 55-19 loss.

Nick Civetta, John Quill, and Ryan Matyas put the ball down in-goal in front of 22,370 fans for Head Coach John Mitchell's side in its first match against Ireland since 2013. The Eagles will stay settled at Drew University through the middle of the week, when they travel down to Georgia for the June 17 match against the 12th-ranked Lelos of the Republic of Georgia. Tickets for the second match of the Emirates Airline Summer Series are still available, starting at $20 at Fifth Third Bank Stadium at Kennesaw State University.

Tiernan O'Halloran outwaited the final U.S. defender in a break three minutes into the game, finding Earls for the opening try, 5-0. Finding a rhythm with ball in hand afterwards, the Eagles did well to maintain possession inside Ireland's half. While AJ MacGinty opted against a kickable penalty from a high tackle on Ben Cima, David Tameilau had a gain-line breaking run at the 10 six minutes later nullified by a penalty in the following offload.

From the midfield lineout, Jacob Stockdale found space on the far wing to dot down in the corner. Martin Iosefo made a try-saving tackle with a half-field chase moments later, but a failed clearance kick resulted in a return in space and offload from Kieran Marmion to Earls, 17-0.

Ireland was not forced to kick much from its own end, but Civetta surprised fly half Joey Carbery in the 20th minute when the Irishman looked to get his side away from its try line. The lock charged down the attempt inside the 22 and was the first to the ball to take it over the line for the Eagles' only try of the first half.

A two-try blitz in five minutes extended Ireland's lead to 29-7 at halftime, as hooker Niall Scannell dotted down from a maul in the 31st minute and Earls found an offload after a long run at the try line for Marmion to score.

The Eagles made several substitutions in the pack at the break, though Ireland scored again from the scrum four minutes into the half via Jack Conan, 36-7. Quill replicated Civetta's try a minute later, however, as Ireland looked to clear from its own five-meter line. MacGinty converted his second for the 36-14 score line.

Mike Te'o had a chip kick near midfield recovered by Hilterbrand as the U.S. looked to counter from a kick, and sustained pressure outside the try line in the ensuing minutes resulted in Matyas dummying across the paint, 36-19. The scoring stopped there for the Eagles, as substitutes James Ryan, Luke McGrath, and Simon Zebo, respectively, brought the final score to 55-19.

Men's Eagles | v. Ireland



1. Ben Tarr (Taufete'e @ 40')



2. Peter Malcolm (Hilterbrand @ 40')



3. Chris Baumann (Ryan @ 49')



4. Nate Brakeley



5. Nic Civetta (Jensen @ 48')



6. John Quill



7. Tony Lamborn



8. David Tameilau (Durutalo @ 40')



9. Nate Augspurger (C) (Davies @ 50')



10. AJ MacGinty



11. Martin Iosefo



12. Marcel Brache (Magie @ 67')



13. Ryan Matyas



14. Mike Te'o



15. Ben Cima (Campbell @ 61')

Men's Eagles | Reserves



16. James Hilterbrand



17. Joe Taufete'e



18. Paddy Ryan



19. Matthew Jensen



20. Andrew Durutalo



21. Shaun Davies



22. Will Magie



23. Bryce Campbell

Ireland | v. USA



1. Cian Healy (Kilcoyne @ 50')



2. Niall Scannell (Heffernan @ 50')



3. John Ryan (Porter @ 50')



4. Quinn Roux (Ryan @ 61')



5. Devin Toner



6. Rhys Ruddock (C)



7. Josh van der Flier



8. Jack Conan



9. Kieran Marmion (McGrath @ 61')



10. Joey Carbery



11. Jacob Stockdale



12. Luke Marshall (R. Scannell @ 40')



13. Garry Ringrose



14. Keith Earls



15. Tiernan O'Halloran (Leavy @ 72')

Ireland | Reserves



16. Dave Heffernan



17. David Kilcoyne



18. Andrew Porter



19. James Ryan



20. Dan Leavy



21. Luke McGrath



22. Rory Scannell



23. Simon Zebo

Men's Eagles | 19



Tries: Civetta, Quill, Matyas



Conversions: MacGinty (2)

Ireland | 55



Tries: Earls (2), Stockdale, N. Scannell, Marmion, Conan, Ryan, McGrath, Zebo



Conversions: Carbery (2), Ringrose, R. Scannell (2)

USA Men's Eagles | Summer 2017 Schedule



v. Ireland (Emirates Airline Summer Series) - L 55-19



v. Georgia (Emirates Airline Summer Series) - Saturday, June 17 @ 7 p.m. ET - Fifth Third Bank Stadium at Kennesaw State University



v. Canada (Rugby World Cup 2019 Qualifier) - Saturday, June 24 @ 3 p.m. ET - Tim Hortons Field



v. Canada (Rugby World Cup 2019 Qualifier) - Saturday, July 1 @ 6 p.m. ET - Torero Stadium