SIMON EASTERBY hailed his Emerging Ireland stars for making light of their brief preparation time to kick off the tour of South Africa with a victory.
And the coach challenged the rookies to make it “hard” for Andy Farrell and Easterby himself not to pick them for the senior Ireland team in the near future.
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Easterby — due to stand in as senior boss for much of next year when Farrell is with the Lions — saw Olympic Sevens star Zac Ward cross the line on 15 minutes in Bloemfontein, before Darragh Murray and Cormac Izuchukwu did likewise for a 19-7 half-time lead.
Stephen Smyth and Gus McCarthy added second-half efforts to go with a penalty try. Tino Swanepoel got two of the Pumas’ four tries.
Easterby said: “The Pumas had a Currie Cup campaign to prepare for this game and we’ve had six or seven days but I think, to a man, our guys stepped up to the challenge.
“We were outstanding and everyone showed up really well.
“Recent history shows that players who have been on this tour have kicked on — the challenge for the players is to make it hard for us not to pick them over the next six to 12 months, going through to another World Cup cycle.
“There is genuine opportunity. Six players have been capped, 48 caps have been gained by those six guys.”
EMERGING IRELAND 36-24 PUMAS
