Declan Kidney has named 9 uncapped players in his 39-man Ireland squad to take on Australia, Fiji and South Africa, and the Ireland A side to play Tonga and Argentina Jaguares will also come from this group of players.
Ireland’s fixtures for the Autumn Internationals are as follows:
Fri 13th November, 19:00, Ravenhill
Ireland A v Tonga XV
Sun 15th November, 15:00, Croke Park
Ireland v Australia
Sat 21st November, 17:15, Royal Dublin Society
Ireland v Fiji
Fri 27th November, 19:00, Tallaght Stadium
Ireland A v Argentina A
Sat 28th November, 14:30, Croke Park
Ireland v South Africa
Ireland Squad:
Tommy Bowe (Ospreys)
Neil Best (Northampton Saints)
Tony Buckley (Shannon/Munster)
Darren Cave (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster)
Tom Court (Malone/Ulster)
Sean Cronin (Buccaneers/Connacht)*
Leo Cullen (Blackrock College/Leinster)
Gordon D’Arcy (Lansdowne/Leinster)
Gavin Duffy (Galwegians/Connacht)
Keith Earls (Young Munster/Munster)
Stephen Ferris (Dungannon/Ulster)
Luke Fitzgerald (Blackrock College/Leinster)
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 Horgan (Boyne/Leinster)
Robert Kearney (UCD/Leinster)
Denis Leamy (Cork Constitution/Munster)
Fergus McFadden (UCD/Leinster)*
Donncha O’Callaghan (Cork Constitution/Munster)
Paul O’Connell (Young Munster/Munster)
Brian O’Driscoll (UCD/Leinster)
Ronan O’Gara (Cork Constitution/Munster)
Tomas O’Leary (Dolphin/Munster)
Sean O’Brien (Clontarf/Leinster)*
Eoin Reddan (Lansdowne/Leinster)
Mike Ross (Clontarf/Leinster)
Donnacha Ryan (Shannon/Munster)
Jonathan Sexton (St.Mary’s College/Leinster)*
Peter Stringer (Shannon/Munster)
Devin Toner (Lansdowne/Leinster)*
Andrew Trimble (Ballymena/Ulster)
David Wallace (Garryowen/Munster)
Paddy Wallace (Ballymena/Ulster)
Brett Wilkinson (Galwegians/Connacht)*
*Denotes uncapped player
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I’m liking this squad, though, would have brought Ian Humphreys and Ryan Caldwell (I don’t see the advantage of bringing Leo Cullen into the squad and leaving out Caldwell?) into the fray as well, but that’s my only sticking point.
I’m hoping that Kidney uses the post-Grand Slam era as a chance to blood youngsters/new blood that will be carrying the manlte forward e.g. Cian Healy and Mike Ross in the front row (Buckley and Court are pants); Chris Henry rather than Denis Leamy; Sexton at fly-half – he’s a better long term option than Paddy Wallace; and it would be good to see either Luke Fitzgerald, Keith Earls or Andrew Trimble in the centres because, as much as we would like it to be the case, BOD is not an evergreen, and D’Arcy is probably past his best.
However, ultimately I’m content with this squad – especially given the dilemma that England have had recently! I’d back our fringe players against thier’s anyday!!
Just in reply to johns comments,which i mainly agree with though i thinks its foolish to suggest that d’arcy is past his best,his try against france showed that he is still capable of wrinkling through tackles and he ha been playin well for leinster so he will be very eager to take the no.12 jersey.