| Muldoon hopes to soar against Eagles | |||||
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 The Portumna man made his senior international debut in the game and wants to push on against Eddie O'Sullivan's US side on Sunday. Muldoon said: “I think we always expected Canada to come out and be very strong. They are a very physical, very strong side in that respect and were very aggressive for the first 20 to 25 minutes. “I think with the time period that we had together, we struggled especially in the first half to get some patterns together and to get a strong foothold in the game. “But once we knuckled down in the second half things began to come together and hopefully with that attitude this weekend we can do the same.” The Portumna native, voted Connacht’s Senior Player of the Year, will line out once again with Niall Ronan and Denis Leamy in the back row. Kidney has made just one change to the side that beat Canada, moving Mike Ross in on the tighthead side of the scrum for his first senior start. Tom Court makes way and Tony Buckley switches to loosehead prop. “Looking at the USA this weekend they’re another big, strong physical team. I think rugby in the USA is really starting to grow with a lot more numbers playing and they’re getting better and better as every year goes by,” Muldoon added. “Of course with Eddie there as their coach, they will be well prepared and he will know a lot of the Irish players so I’m sure his team will be well briefed on us. “The heat will no doubt be a big factor and although it’s the same for both of the teams, I suppose we are not as used to the conditions so it will be a tough game for everybody involved. “I think work-rate will be really important just as it was last week and in the second half when we upped it a bit as the combinations got used to each other, things began to flow a bit better for us. “With another week’s training, people know each other a little bit better and hopefully that will help us through.” USA v Ireland, Santa Clara, California Kick-off 9pm Irish time (Sunday), Live on Setanta Ireland |
