Ireland's second string out to prove a point against USA

Channel 4 & RTE 2, 6.30pm Saturday

Any concerns that Ireland's players will be struggling to get their feet back on the ground after last week's historic win over New Zealand can be put to one side as Joe Schmidt has unsurprisingly again looked to use the depth in his squad against tier-two opponents the USA and it's hard to see beyond a comfortable home win.

Centre Gary Ringrose is the only player to retain his starting berth from last week, but Schmidt has every reason to have faith in his fringe players after they were charged with taking on Italy in Chicago at the start of the November and came back with a 54-7 success.

Joey Carbery again lines up at fly-half, the new-look pack features lock Tadhg Beirne, who scored two tries against Italy, while Stuart McCloskey gives a strong physical presence to the midfield alongside Ringrose.

These sides last met in 2017 when an Ireland team missing their Lions stars raced away to a 55-19 success in New Jersey. Since then the Eagles have enjoyed a run of nine successive Test victories culminating in last week's 31-5 success over Romania, although a 59-22 defeat to the Maori All Blacks in that time underlines that the USA are still struggling when up against top teams.

Ireland's fringe players have already shown this autumn they can step up to the mark and they should be ever more fired up to do so given the success the nation is enjoying. A handicap in the mid-30s doesn't offer a lot of leeway though, and better value may lie in finding some tryscorers in what should be a high-scoring game.

All the Ireland backs are a short price to go over but scrum-half John Cooney looks worth a shot as a powerful Ireland pack should be able to set him up with opportunities close to the line, while second-rower Beirne will need no encouragement with ball in hand after his brace in Chicago.

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J Cooney to score a try
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T Beirne to score a try
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