Electric Keith Earls bags brace of tries as Ireland down Eagles

MAN-of-the-match Keith Earls scored two tries and had three assists as Ireland opened their summer tour with a 55-19 victory over a spirited USA side in New Jersey on Saturday night.

The Munster winger Keith Earls gained 208 metres with ball in hand from his five carries, making seven tackles and completing eight passes in his eye-catching display.

Earls two tries against the Eagles took his Ireland tally to 24 tries with  seven of those tries coming in this season alone.

Keith Earls brace of tries for Ireland last night v USA brought his tally to 24 - with 7 coming this season. Lions contender? #USAvIRE

— Colm Kinsella (@ckSportLeader) June 11, 2017

Keith Earls is good at rugby.
Really good.
Really really good.
Just in case anyone forgot
(cough)#USAvIRE

— Cathal Sheridan (@catsheridan1) June 10, 2017

The game also saw Munster centre Rory Scannell earn his first international cap as he joined his brother Niall on the pitch for the second half of Saturday's game.

Irish head coach Joe Schmidt handed debuts to five players, with Jacob Stockdale marking his first start with a try, while last year’s U20 captain James Ryan took less than 60 seconds to score after being put through by  Earls.

Ireland face Japan on Saturday next, 6am Irish time.

IRELAND: T O’Halloran; K Earls, G Ringrose, L Marshall, J Stockdale; J Carbery, K Marmion; C Healy, N Scannell, John Ryan; Q Roux, D Toner; R Ruddock (capt), J van der Flier, J Conan. Replacements: R Scannell for L Marshall (half-time), S Zebo for J Carbery, D Kilcoyne for C Healy, A Porter for J Ryan and D Heffernan for N Scannell (all 50 mins), L McGrath for K Marmion, J Ryan for Q Roux (both 60 mins), D Leavy for J van der Flier (69 mins), J van der Flier for T O’Halloran (73 mins).

USA: B Cima; M Te’o, R Matyas, M Brache, M Iosefo; AJ MacGinty, Nate Augspurger; B Tarr, P Malcolm, C Baumann; N Brakeley, N Civetta; J Quill, T Lamborn, D Tameilau. Replacements: W Magie for M Brache (27-37 mins, 66 mins), S Davies for M Iosefo, P Ryan for C Baumann, M Jensen for N Civetta (all 48 mins).

REFEREE: L Pearce (England