Ireland Squads Announced For Summer Tours
There are six uncapped players in the Ireland squad for the summer tour to North America that was named this morning. An Emerging Ireland squad has also been selected for the Tblisi Cup in Georgia.
The senior Ireland touring party of 28 players includes six uncapped players – Connacht scrum half Kieran Marmion, Ulster and Ireland Under-20 centre Stuart Olding, Connacht full back Robbie Henshaw, Leinster tighthead prop Jamie Hagan and Munster’s openside flanker Tommy O’Donnell and hooker Mike Sherry.
The squad will be captained by Ulster hooker Rory Best, a role he also fulfilled for the 2009 summer tour to North America.
A 26-man squad for the Georgia tour has also been announced and will be captained by Leinster back rower Rhys Ruddock.
Announcing the squads, acting head coach Les Kiss said: “Both tours are hugely important in the context of providing valuable game exposure, building depth and gaining experience in the Irish jersey.
“For the North America tour we have selected a squad who I believe have the right mix of youth and experience and I’m really looking forward to working with them over the next few weeks.
“USA and Canada have improved enormously since the 2011 Rugby World Cup and we know we will be in for two tough Test matches.
“The Georgian tour will be a great experience for the players, most of whom have recently come through the Ireland underage system.
“It will be a tough tour with three games in 14 days and a smaller squad of 26 players, which should mean everyone getting significant game time.”
IRELAND Squad (North American Tour – USA & Canada):
Rory Best (Banbridge/Ulster) (capt)
Isaac Boss (Terenure College/Leinster)
Darren Cave (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster)
Tom Court (Malone/Ulster)
Declan Fitzpatrick (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster)
Jamie Hagan (Old Belvedere/Leinster) *
Iain Henderson (Ballynahinch/Ulster)
Chris Henry (Malone/Ulster)
Robbie Henshaw (Buccaneers/Connacht) *
Paddy Jackson (Dungannon/Ulster)
Felix Jones (Shannon/Munster)
David Kilcoyne (UL Bohemians/Munster)
Ian Madigan (Blackrock College/Leinster)
Kieran Marmion (Galwegians/Connacht) *
Paul Marshall (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster)
Mike McCarthy (Buccaneers/Connacht)
Fergus McFadden (Old Belvedere/Leinster)
Kevin McLaughlin (St. Mary’s College/Leinster)
Tommy O’Donnell (UL Bohemians/Munster) *
Stuart Olding (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster) *
Peter O’Mahony (Cork Constitution/Munster)
Mike Ross (Clontarf/Leinster)
Mike Sherry (Garryowen/Munster) *
Richardt Strauss (Old Wesley/Leinster)
Devin Toner (Lansdowne/Leinster)
Andrew Trimble (Ballymena/Ulster)
Dan Tuohy (Ballymena/Ulster)
Simon Zebo (Cork Constitution/Munster)
EMERGING IRELAND Squad (Tblisi Cup, Georgia):
Michael Allen (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster) *
Michael Bent (Dublin University/Leinster)
Andrew Conway (Blackrock College/Leinster) *
John Cooney (Lansdowne/Leinster) *
Sean Cronin (St. Mary’s College/Leinster)
David Foley (UL Bohemians/Munster) *
Eoin Griffin (Galwegians/Connacht) *
Cathal Marsh (Dublin University/Leinster) *
Michael Heaney (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster) *
Rob Herring (Ballynahinch/Ulster) *
David Kearney (Lansdowne/Leinster) *
Ian Keatley (Young Munster/Munster)
Richard Lutton (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster) *
Brendan Macken (Blackrock College/Leinster) *
Jack McGrath (St. Mary’s College/Leinster) *
Eoin McKeon (Galwegians/Connacht) *
Martin Moore (Lansdowne/Leinster) *
Niall Morris (Leicester Tigers) *
Jordi Murphy (Lansdowne/Leinster) *
Ian Nagle (Cork Constitution/Munster) *
Robbie Diack (Malone/Ulster) *
Tiernan O’Halloran (Galwegians/Connacht) *
Rhys Ruddock (St. Mary’s College/Leinster) (capt)
Dominic Ryan (Lansdowne/Leinster) *
John Ryan (Cork Constitution/Munster) *
Lewis Stevenson (Malone/Ulster) *
* Denotes uncapped player
A number of players were not considered due to injury, including:
Stephen Ferris, Eoin Reddan, Luke Fitzgerald, Gordon D’Arcy, Luke Marshall, David McSharry, Keith Earls and Stephen Archer