Ireland v USA: Teams

Jonathan Sexton has backed Conor Murray to take his chance when Ireland open up their World Cup campaign against the USA on Sunday.

Murray has enjoyed a meteoric rise in the past 12 months, with the Munster scrum-half finding himself in the side ahead of the more experienced Isaac Boss and Eoin Reddan - while Tomas O'Leary didn't even make the World Cup squad.

However Sexton, who will partner Murray at half-back, believes the 22-year-old can make an immediate impact.

"Conor's had a great 2011. This time last season he was on a development contract and then got his break," said Sexton.

"Everyone's career starts at a certain point. He took his opportunity with Munster and impressed, then took his chance with Ireland and impressed there. He's gone from strength to strength.

"He's very laid back and I was shocked that he's so laid back.

"That's a good trait to have and he seems to take everything back in his stride. We seem to work together."

The Murray-Sexton combination is the key change to the Ireland line-up, while Geordan Murphy and Shane Jennings also start as Sean O'Brien and Rob Kearney have been omitted as a precaution.

Strange

Former Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan insists he won't have any mixed emotions when he leads out the Eagles at the Stadium Taranaki.

O'Sullivan guided Ireland to three Triple Crowns in four year, while he worked with a number of the current squad during his tenure.

However O'Sullivan claims he is focused solely on the Eagles.

"I wouldn't say I have mixed emotions. It's not an emotional feeling," he said. "It feels a bit strange because I know many of those lads pretty well.

"But it's not about me, it's about the American team. These lads have put in huge effort to make it here to the World Cup.

"In particular the guys who are not professional have made huge sacrifices to come to the World Cup. It's about them.

"The fact we're playing Ireland in the group stage is just the way it's panned out. I have a job to do.

"It's a bit of help knowing what I do about the Irish players and I've been passing that on. But we can't get hung up on Ireland, we need to focus on our own performance."

Having lost their final warm-up game to Japan, coach Eddie O'Sullivan has made eight changes to his starting XV.

Crucially for the Eagles, though, will be the return of influential skipper Todd Clever - who missed the 20-14 loss in Tokyo through injury.

Ireland: 15 G Murphy, 14 T Bowe, 13 B O'Driscoll (capt), 12 G D'Arcy, 11 K Earls, 10 J Sexton, 9 C Murray, 1 T Court, 2 R Best, 3 M Ross, 4 D O'Callaghan, 5 P O'Connell, 6 S Ferris, 7 S Jennings, 8 J Heaslip.
Replacements: 16 J Flannery, 17 T Buckley, 18 D Ryan, 19 D Leamy, 20 E Reddan, 21 R O'Gara, 22 A Trimble.

USA: 15 Blaine Scully, 14 Taku Ngwenya, 13 Paul Emerick, 12 Andrew Suniula, 11 James Paterson, 10 Roland Suniula, 9 Mike Petri, 8 Nic Johnson, 7 Todd Clever (capt), 6 Louis Stanfill, 5 Hayden Smith, 4 John van der Giessen, 3 Shawn Pittman, 2 Phil Thiel, 1 Mike MacDonald.
Replacements: 16 Chris Biller, 17 Matekitonga Moeakiola, 18 Scott LaValla, 19 Pat Danahy, 20 Tim Usasz, 21 Nese Malifa, 22 Colin Hawley.