Earls Ruled Out Of Summer Tour

Keith Earls has been ruled out of the Ireland squad for the summer tour to New Zealand and Australia. Earls has been suffering from a persistent groin injury and following his participation in the training camp in Limerick this week, it has been decided that he will not tour.

Connacht’s Gavin Duffy, who was been named in the Ireland team for Friday’s game against the Barbarians at Thomond Park, will now travel with the squad to New Zealand in place of the injured Keith Earls.

Earls joins Paul O’Connell, Rory Best and Kevin McLaughlin on the list of players who have been forced to withdraw from the tour squad.

IRELAND Squad (2010 Summer Tour, June 4-June 26):

Backs (15) –

Tommy Bowe (Ospreys)
Gordon D’Arcy (Lansdowne/Leinster)
Gavin Duffy (Galwegians/Connacht)
Shane Horgan (Boyne/Leinster)
Rob Kearney (UCD/Leinster)
Fergus McFadden (Old Belvedere/Leinster)*
Geordan Murphy (Leicester Tigers)
Brian O’Driscoll (UCD/Leinster)
Ronan O’Gara (Cork Constitution/Munster)
Tomas O’Leary (Dolphin/Munster)
Eoin Reddan (Lansdowne/Leinster)
Jonathan Sexton (St. Mary’s College/Leinster)
Peter Stringer (Shannon/Munster)
Andrew Trimble (Ballymena/Ulster)
Paddy Wallace (Ballymena/Ulster)

Forwards (18) –

Tony Buckley (Shannon/Munster)
Tom Court (Malone/Ulster)
Sean Cronin (Buccaneers/Connacht)
Jerry Flannery (Shannon/Munster)
John Fogarty (De La Salle Palmerston/Leinster)*
John Hayes (Bruff/Munster)
Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster)
Jamie Heaslip (Naas/Leinster)
Chris Henry (Ballymena/Ulster)*
Marcus Horan (Shannon/Munster)
Shane Jennings (St. Mary’s College/Leinster)
John Muldoon (Galwegians/Connacht)
Donncha O’Callaghan (Cork Constitution/Munster)
Mick O’Driscoll (Cork Constitution/Munster)
Ed O’Donoghue (Ballynahinch/Ulster)*
Niall Ronan (Shannon/Munster)
Dan Tuohy (Ballymena/Ulster)*
David Wallace (Garryowen/Munster)

* Denotes uncapped player

Summer Tour Match Schedule:

Friday, June 4: Barbarians v Ireland XV, Thomond Park, 7.45pm

Saturday, June 12: New Zealand v Ireland, Yarrow Stadium, New Plymouth, 7.35pm (8.35am Irish time)

Friday, June 18: New Zealand Maori v Ireland XV, International Stadium, Rotorua, 7.35pm (8.35am Irish time)

Saturday, June 26: Australia v Ireland, Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane, 8pm (11am Irish time)