IRELAND head coach Andy Farrell was pleased with the performances delivered by debutants Gus McCarthy and Cormac Izuchukwu.

His side stormed to a commanding 52-17 victory against Fiji in the Autumn Nations Series at the Aviva Stadium.

A little over two years on from captaining Blackrock College to a Leinster Schools Senior Cup title, 21-year-old hooker McCarthy lined out alongside Andrew Porter and Finlay Bealham in the Irish front-row.

He capped his international bow with a second half try after previously setting up five-pointers for captain Caelan Doris, Craig Casey and Bundee Aki.

Ulster flanker Izuchukwu was unfortunate to have a try ruled out for a forward pass.

But the Offaly native left an impression on Farrell during his 51 minutes on the pitch.

Farrell remarked in his post-match press conference: “I was gutted for Izzy in regards to the forward pass.

“It would have been nice for him to get over the line.

“I thought he was a presence, certainly in the lineout. He’s some athlete.

“You give people these opportunities for them to realise their own potential.

“It’s what they do with that experience that is going to be important pushing on, but what a story there for Gus.

“Two years ago, lifting the Senior Cup with Caelan’s school and I thought he did a brilliant job.

“To play 80 minutes and finish the game at number 7? Well, him and his family will remember that forever.”

While it wasn’t his senior debut for Ireland, Leinster’s Sam Prendergast was making his first Test start at out-half after an encouraging appearance off the bench against Argentina last Friday week.

He spent 10 minutes in the sin bin during the early stages of the contest for a heavy tackle on Fiji’s Kitione Salawa that remained as a yellow card following a bunker review.

But the Kildare man ended the action with five successful conversions and an assist for Mack Hansen’s try in first half stoppage-time.

He had felt that the precocious fly-half was ‘excellent’ in his debut outing eight days earlier.

And the boss was once again thrilled with how Prendergast conducted himself in the Aviva on Saturday.

He added: “I thought he did great. I thought he was really composed.

“There was a few mistakes within his game obviously, but he was pulling the strings there for a good while and he was really composed.”

The 49-year-old also confirmed that Jacob Stockdale and Jamie Osborne were withdrawn with hamstring and adductor injuries respectively.