Northern | US

Ireland name 26-man squad for Italy Test


The structure of the Six Nations is set to remain unchanged. Photo: Getty Images/ Laurence Griffiths
Comments
Comment

Ireland have decided to rest several front-line players for their first Test of the November window.

ADVERTISEMENT

Joe Schmidt has selected a 26-man squad to travel to Chicago to take on Italy this Saturday.

The Ireland head coach will have a firm eye on the November 17th test with New Zealand, as the world’s top-2 ranked nations collide. They also play Argentina in Dublin the week before.

Johnny Sexton has been left at home, as has Robbie Henshaw, Keith Earls, Rob Kearney, Peter O’Mahony and Rory Best, among others.

It’s likely that Joey Carbery will start against the Italians, with Leinster’s Ross Bryne set to make his first appearance for Ireland from the bench, having been unused on the tour of Australia last June.

Another potential debutant is Ulster’s Will Addison who left English Premiership club Sale in the summer to pursue his international ambitions.

With Conor Murray absent through injury and Connacht’s Kieran Marmion left at home, it is a straight fight between Ulster’s John Cooney and Leinster’s Luke McGrath for the number 9 jersey.

ADVERTISEMENT

Rhys Ruddock, who has captained Ireland before, is in line to get the nod once more. The match is taking place at Soldier Field, the venue where Ireland registered their first ever win over the All Blacks.

Ireland Squad
Forwards (15):
Finlay Bealham (Buccaneers/Connacht) 7
Tadhg Beirne (Munster) 2
Jack Conan (Old Belvedere/Leinster) 9
Sean Cronin (St. Mary’s College/Leinster) 62
Tadhg Furlong (Clontarf/Leinster) 26
Dave Kilcoyne (UL Bohemians/Munster) 22
Jack McGrath (St. Mary’s College/Leinster) 50
Jordi Murphy (Lansdowne/Ulster) 23
Andrew Porter (UCD/Leinster) 8
Quinn Roux (Galwegians/Connacht) 6
Rhys Ruddock (St Mary’s College/Leinster) 19
James Ryan (UCD/Leinster) 11
Niall Scannell (Dolphin/Munster) 9
Devin Toner (Lansdowne/Leinster) 60
Josh van der Flier (UCD/Leinster) 10

Backs (11):
Will Addison (Enniskillen/Ulster) *
Bundee Aki (Galwegians/Connacht) 9
Ross Byrne (UCD/Leinster) *
Joey Carbery (Clontarf/Munster) 12
Andrew Conway (Garryowen/Munster) 7
John Cooney (Terenure College/Ulster) 2
Jordan Larmour (St. Mary’s College/Leinster) 6
Luke McGrath (UCD/Leinster) 6
Garry Ringrose (UCD/Leinster) 14
Jacob Stockdale (Ballynahinch/Ulster) 11
Darren Sweetnam (Cork Constitution/Munster) 2

You may also like: The Rugby Pod discuss whether Johnny Sexton is protected

Video Spacer

ADVERTISEMENT

Get the RugbyPass App 📱

Follow the biggest matches with live scores, line-ups, news and analysis, all in the RugbyPass App.

Download Here
On Apple IOS, Android, and Tablet.
ADVERTISEMENT
Play Video
LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Long Reads

Comments on RugbyPass

P
Phantom 1 hour ago
Nations Championship: 'The data shows the north has finally caught up with the south'

Fact: the gap between the North and the South has narrowed considerably - that I get. However, determining that only selecting only Home grown players or playing in the home country is is the optimal strategy is a bit of a toss up and highly reliant on the economies of the home union. I do understand that England and to a lesser degree Ireland selects home based only. The top 14 is a massive threat to their domestic product. France would probably not be affected (the money is at home). Fiji, Argentina, Samoa, Italy and you could even argue Scotland have only benefitted from this. Their players either go overseas to learn at higher levels (Fiji, Samoa, Argentina) or players coming into their leagues to strengthen the home product and their National teams (Scotland, Italy, Japan).

South Africa used to limit its selection to the home based players, but the reality of a weak currency vs what players could earn oversees meant that you lost access to your best players at some stage of their careers, with very few exceptions. Kolbe left SA as he was considered too small for International Rugby (yes coaches/selectors view), but ironically in France he forced selectors to notice his endeavors and select him. He is only reaching 50 caps now despite being north of 30 - granted rotation and the odd injury also played a role, but for the most part it is having debuted or becoming a regular so late.



...

18 Go to comments
Close Panel
Close Panel

Edition & Time Zone

{{current.name}}
Set time zone automatically
{{selectedTimezoneTitle}} (auto)
Choose a different time zone
Close Panel

Editions

Close Panel

Change Time Zone

Close
ADVERTISEMENT
Copied to clipboard

Share Article close