Ireland captain Rory Best has been withdrawn from the summer tour squad due to a hamstring injury, with Munster hooker Niall Scannell replacing him in the touring party for Australia. Meanwhile, vice-captains Jonathan Sexton and Peter O’Mahony are possibly set to share the captaincy duties Down Under.
Speaking to the media at Carton House this afternoon, Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt said: “Rory (Best) is not going to tour. He had a hamstring issue that kept him out of the (Ulster) game against the Ospreys, and we felt he was really going in the right direction and he would be ready for game one (in Australia), definitely for game two. But he’s just not quite where we need him to be.”
Asked about Best’s replacement as tour captain, he added; “Again, because a number of these things have just become apparent…we’ve two vice-captains in Peter O’Mahony and Johnny Sexton and a strong leadership group.
“So it will depend a bit on selection and what we feel we need at any given time. It could be that Pete and Johnny take the team on and share the load.”
Best has captained Ireland to 17 wins in 26 Tests, including most of the current record winning streak of 12 matches which catapulted the team to Grand Slam glory in the spring. Following the Six Nations title success, it was announced that the Ulster star had signed a contract extension to the end of the Rugby World Cup in Japan next year
Best’s injury replacement, the seven-times capped Niall Scannell, played in all three summer tour games in the USA and Japan last year, scoring his first international try in the 55-19 victory over the Eagles in New Jersey. He will compete with Sean Cronin and Rob Herring for the number 2 jersey in Australia.
The three Australia v Ireland games will be broadcast live on Sky Sports (TV) and RTE 2fm (radio). Supporters can follow all the news from the summer tour here on IrishRugby.ie and the IRFU’s social media channels.
IRELAND Squad (Summer Tour To Australia, June 2018):
Player/Club/Province/Caps –
Backs (14):
Bundee Aki (Galwegians/Connacht) 7
Ross Byrne (UCD/Leinster) *
Joey Carbery (Clontarf/Leinster) 10
Andrew Conway (Garryowen/Munster) 6
John Cooney (Terenure College/Ulster) 1
Keith Earls (Young Munster/Munster) 67
Robbie Henshaw (Buccaneers/Leinster) 33
Rob Kearney (UCD/Leinster) 83
Jordan Larmour (St. Mary’s College/Leinster) 3
Kieran Marmion (Corinthians/Connacht) 21
Conor Murray (Garryowen/Munster) 64
Garry Ringrose (UCD/Leinster) 13
Jonathan Sexton (St. Mary’s College/Leinster) (vice-capt) 73
Jacob Stockdale (Ballynahnch/Ulster) 9
Forwards (18):
Tadhg Beirne (Scarlets) *
Jack Conan (Old Belvedere/Leinster) 7
Sean Cronin (St. Mary’s College/Leinster) 61
Tadhg Furlong (Clontarf/Leinster) 23
Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster) 78
Iain Henderson (Ballynahinch/Ulster) 38
Rob Herring (Ballynahinch/Ulster) 3
Dan Leavy (UCD/Leinster) 9
Jack McGrath (St. Mary’s College/Leinster) 47
Jordi Murphy (Lansdowne/Leinster) 20
Peter O’Mahony (Cork Constitution/Munster) (vice-capt) 47
Andrew Porter (UCD/Leinster) 7
Quinn Roux (Galwegians/Connacht) 5
James Ryan (UCD/Leinster) 8
John Ryan (Cork Constitution/Munster) 13
Niall Scannell (Dolphin/Munster) 7
CJ Stander (Shannon/Munster) 23
Devin Toner (Lansdowne/Leinster) 58
* Denotes uncapped player
IRELAND Summer Tour Fixtures –
Saturday, June 9
Australia v IRELAND
Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane, kick-off 8.05pm local time/11.05am Irish time
Saturday, June 16
Australia v IRELAND
AAMI Park, Melbourne, kick-off 8.05pm local time/11.05am Irish time
Saturday, June 23
Australia v IRELAND
Allianz Park, Sydney, kick-off 8.05pm local time/11.05am Irish time
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