Declan Kidney has named his team for the games with South Africa and Argentina next month and there are a few new faces.
There are some newbies on the Irish squad named by Declan Kidney today to take on the Springboks and the Pumas next month.
The uncapped players are Iain Henderson, Luke Marshall, Richardt Strauss and Dave Kilcoyne and the changes don’t end there.
In the backroom, Anthony Foley and Greg Feek will be involved for the three games (we play Fiji too in a non-capped Test). Foley will take over the defence, allowing Les Kiss to work on attack, but Axel will return to Munster duty once the tests are over.
The big injury news is about Leinster’s Rob Kearney. The full-back is out for 8-10 weeks as he undergoes surgery tomorrow on his back injury.
Full squad:
Rory Best (Banbridge/Ulster/62)
Tommy Bowe (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster/49)
Darren Cave (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster/3)
Tom Court (Malone/Ulster/29)
Gordon D’Arcy (Lansdowne/Leinster/69)
Keith Earls (Thomond/Munster/32)
Stephen Ferris (Dungannon/Ulster/35)
Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster/33)
Jamie Heaslip (Naas/Leinster/50)
Iain Henderson (Queens University/Ulster)*
Chris Henry (Malone/Ulster/2)
David Kilcoyne (UL Bohemians/Munster)*
Luke Marshall (Ballymena/Ulster)*
John Muldoon (Galwegians/Connacht/3)
Conor Murray (Garryowen/Munster/12)
Mike McCarthy (Buccaneers/Connacht/4)
Fergus McFadden (Old Belvedere/Leinster/14)
Kevin McLaughlin (St. Mary’s College/Leinster/5)
Donncha O’Callaghan (Cork Constitution/Munster/88)
Paul O’Connell (Young Munster/Munster/85)
Brian O’Driscoll (UCD/Leinster/120) Captain
Ronan O’Gara (Cork Constitution/Munster/124
Peter O’Mahony (Cork Constitution/Munster/7)
Eoin Reddan (Lansdowne/Leinster/45)
Mike Ross (Clontarf/Leinster/22)
Donnacha Ryan (Shannon/Munster/21)
Jonathan Sexton (St.Mary’s College/Leinster/32)
Richardt Strauss (Old Wesley/Leinster)*
Andrew Trimble (Ballymena/Ulster/48)
Dan Tuohy (Ballymena/Ulster/5)
Simon Zebo (Cork Constitution/Munster/1)
*denotes uncapped player
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