Keith Earls 'exploded' onto the international stage at Thomond Park © Getty Images

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Match Pack: Ireland too strong for Canada

Teams: Ireland

The rugby-mad people of Limerick got a privileged peek at the future of Irish rugby yesterday, and it is one that looks very bright indeed.

A 55-0 scoreline was representative of the lack of challenge posed by a willing but predictably-limited Canada side, who are not a patch on the muscular vintage of the late 80s and early 90s. However, in coach Declan Kidney's first game at the helm, a side packed with youthful promise showed enough at a cold, wet and windy Thomond Park to suggest recent World Cup and Six Nations failures should be no more than a blip.

Most obviously, Keith Earls, the 21-year-old full-back making his debut at the home of his club side Munster, exploded on to the international scene with a try after less than three minutes. But there were also thrilling contributions from inside centre Luke Fitzgerald, 21, wingers Tommy Bowe, 24, and Rob Kearney, 22, plus a man-of-the-match display from 23-year-old blindside flanker Stephen Ferris - who worked tirelessly alongside back-row partner James Heaslip, still only 24.

With the fearsome All Blacks up next weekend at Croke Park, Kidney is expected to make a raft of changes, with some of his starlets seemingly certain to make way. But the coach, who won two Heineken Cups for Munster before taking the Ireland job, admits he has plenty to think about ahead of the national team's return to Dublin.

"One of the things we set out to do over the last three weeks was to build a panel. Those younger players have come into that and they took an opportunity well," he said. "But there's a lot of fellows who didn't get on to the pitch who are going well in training too. We'll just review the video and see what the mix is going forward, but at least the size of the panel now is getting bigger, and when you have that competition for places it's always good for players."

He added: "It increases the number of players looking for places, so in some ways it makes it (selection) slightly more difficult, but in a good way, because if you have that competition it can give an edge to training that can allow you to prepare better for the next Saturday."

Earls' early effort began a first-half romp that also produced two tries for Kearney and further scores for Heaslip and Bowe. The visitors fared better in the second period, largely due to Ireland's scrappy performance, but substitute back rowers David Wallace and Alan Quinlan, and Bowe again, made sure the half-century was completed in the dying minutes.

"We're happy enough. There were a number of good things but also a number of things we need to work on as well," Kidney said.

Earls' try provided arguably the biggest cheer of the evening at a ground located minutes from his Limerick home. "We're delighted for him. The fact is that in his first cap, with his first touch, he gets his first try," said Kidney. "That will live with him always and I'm delighted for him and his family that it's worked out that way.

"But he's a very good team person and he'll know that he was just finishing things off. The time for him to look back is when he's retired, and thankfully he's just starting out, and he's another addition to what is becoming quite a competitive backline to get into."

Captain Brian O'Driscoll added: "For the lad to score with his first international touch, that's a very special feeling and you could see the delight for him with all the team coming in."#

Canada coach Kieran Crowley, meanwhile, was left to ponder how to avoid a similar mauling at the hands of Six Nations champions Wales in six days' time.

"We've got Wales on Friday night, we've got to put that behind us, look at areas we can improve - obviously with a score like that there's a fair few - go forward and hopefully take a step up," he said.

The Ireland rugby squad underwent rest and recovery today and the match 22 from the Canada game have remained in camp. They will be joined by an additional 11 players in the squad ahead of the New Zealand clash at Croke Park.

The players added to the squad are:
Cian Healy
Malcolm O'Kelly
Ryan Caldwell
Denis Leamy
Girvan Dempsey
Geordan Murphy
Andrew Trimble
Ian Dowling
Bob Casey
Bernard Jackman
Tomas O'Leary