WITH the season ending for Munster rugby last weekend, sights for some turn to summer international duties. With a four game tour kicking off in Thomond Park on June 4, Ireland coach Declan Kidney has named a full strength 33 man squad for the trip down under.
The squad sees three uncapped players join up with 30 seasoned campaigners. Dan Tuohy, Fergus Mc Fadden and Chris Henry are the newbies as Kidney has decided not to experiment too much with the World Cup now only just over a year away.
If the moans and groans from the last few weeks are to be listened to, then some of the 33 players named, (mainly the Munster and Leinster contingent) may have benefited from a summer off. However, at international level, the game is more about results now, than player welfare later.
With recent results taken into context, the 13 Leinster representatives is about right, as Munster jump in with 11. The real thing to be considered here is that anyone listed below will be seriously curtailed from Magners League duty in the early part of the season. This scenario being the reason that Ireland ‘A’ are not competing in the Churchill Cup this season.
With that decision in mind, it appears that the Autumn and or next seasons Six Nations will be the only chance for someone outside of this 33 to put their hands up for World Cup spots. The mix of getting game time and remaining fresh is the real selection headache now for the IRFU. With the age of this squad’s key players being mostly over 30, it appears that what we see now, will not be changing much by the time we visit New Zealand again in the chase for Webb Ellis glory
The Ireland squad to play the Barbarians on June 4th, New Zealand on June 12th, New Zealand Maori on June 18th and Australia on June 26th:
Rory Best (Ulster), Tommy Bowe (Ospreys), Tony Buckley (Munster), Tom Court (Ulster), Sean Cronin (Connacht), Gordon D’Arcy (Leinster), Keith Earls (Munster), Jerry Flannery (Munster), John Hayes (Munster), Cian Healy (Leinster), Jamie Heaslip (Leinster), Chris Henry (Ulster), Marcus Horan (Munster), Shane Horgan (Leinster), Shane Jennings (Leinster), Robert Kearney (Leinster), Fergus McFadden (Leinster), Kevin McLaughlin (Leinster), John Muldoon (Connacht), Geordan Murphy (Leicester), Donncha O’Callaghan (Munster), Paul O’Connell (Munster), Mick O’Driscoll (Munster), Brian O’Driscoll (Leinster), Ronan O’Gara (Munster), Tomas O’Leary (Munster), Eoin Reddan (Leinster), Jonathan Sexton (Leinster), Peter Stringer (Munster), Andrew Trimble (Ulster), Dan Tuohy (Ulster), David Wallace (Munster), Paddy Wallace (Ulster)
