The remaining places in the Ireland squad for the summer tour to New Zealand have been confirmed. Several spots were left unfilled as players were given further time to prove their fitness in Tuesday’s game against the Barbarians.
Chris Henry and Brett Wilkinson both came through the Barbarians clash after recent injury concerns and will take their places among the forwards.
They are joined by Mike McCarthy, who will travel to New Zealand as precautionary cover for Paul O’Connell who is continuing his recovery from a knee injury.
O’Connell is not included in the listed squad at present. A final decision on his participation in the tour will be made on Friday.
There are also two further uncapped players making the trip to the home of the World champions with scrum half Paul Marshall named in the squad along with prop Ronan Loughney, who will be providing further cover for the front row including Mike Ross who is currently recovering from a hamstring strain.
The Ireland management and players will depart from London for New Zealand on Thursday morning.
Declan Kidney’s men will face the All Blacks in the first Test at Eden Park in Auckland on Saturday week – June 9.
Rugby League Park in Christchurch and Hamilton’s Waikato Stadium are the venues for the two other Tests on Saturday, June 16 and Saturday, June 23 respectively.
All three Tests will kick off at 7.35pm local time/8.35am Irish time. Sky Sports will have live TV coverage of the games, while they will also be broadcast live on RTÉ Radio 1.
IRELAND SUMMER TOUR SQUAD (New Zealand 2012):
Backs (13):
Darren Cave (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster)
Gordon D’Arcy (Lansdowne/Leinster)
Keith Earls (Young Munster/Munster)
Rob Kearney (UCD/Leinster)
Paul Marshall (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster) *
Fergus McFadden (Old Belvedere/Leinster)
Conor Murray (Garryowen/Munster)
Brian O’Driscoll (UCD/Leinster) (capt)
Ronan O’Gara (Cork Constitution/Munster)
Eoin Reddan (Lansdowne/Leinster)
Jonathan Sexton (St. Mary’s College/Leinster)
Andrew Trimble (Ballymena/Ulster)
Simon Zebo (Cork Constitution/Munster) *
Forwards (17):
Rory Best (Banbridge/Ulster)
Sean Cronin (St. Mary’s College/Leinster)
Declan Fitzpatrick (Dungannon/Ulster) *
Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster)
Jamie Heaslip (Naas/Leinster)
Chris Henry (Ballymena/Ulster)
Ronan Loughney (Galwegians/Connacht) *
Kevin McLaughlin (St. Mary’s College/Leinster)
Mike McCarthy (Buccaneers/Connacht)
Sean O’Brien (Clontarf/Leinster)
Donncha O’Callaghan (Cork Constitution/Munster)
Peter O’Mahony (Cork Constitution/Munster)
Mike Ross (Clontarf/Leinster)
Donnacha Ryan (Shannon/Munster)
Mike Sherry (Garryowen/Munster) *
Dan Tuohy (Ballymena/Ulster)
Brett Wilkinson (Galwegians/Connacht) *
* Denotes uncapped player
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