NEW Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt has named his 34 man squad for the upcoming Guinness against Samoa, Australia and New Zealand in the Aviva Stadium this November. The squad includes seven Munster players, two in the backs, Earls and Murray and five forwards, O’Connell, Coughlan, Sherry, O’Mahony and Archer. Notable omissions from the squad, arguably, are David Kilcoyne and Ian Keatley.
The three test schedule starts with Samoa on Saturday 9 November at 5.45 p.m., followed by Australia on Saturday 16 November, again at 5.45 p.m. before the finale against World Champions New Zealand on Sunday 24 November at 2 p.m.
IRELAND Guinness Series Squad:
Backs
Isaac Boss (Terenure College/Leinster)
Tommy Bowe (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster)
Gordon D’Arcy (Lansdowne/Leinster)
Keith Earls (Young Munster/Munster)
Robbie Henshaw (Buccaneers/Connacht)
Paddy Jackson (Dungannon/Ulster)
David Kearney (Lansdowne/Leinster)*
Rob Kearney (UCD/Leinster)
Ian Madigan (Blackrock College/Leinster)
Luke Marshall (Ballymena/Ulster)
Fergus McFadden (Old Belvedere/Leinster)
Conor Murray (Garryowen/Munster)
Brian O’Driscoll (UCD/Leinster)
Eoin Reddan (Lansdowne/Leinster)
Jonathan Sexton (Racing Metro 92)
Forwards
Stephen Archer (Cork Constitution/Munster)
Rory Best (Banbridge/Ulster)
James Coughlan (Dolphin/Munster)*
Tom Court (Ulster)
Sean Cronin (St. Mary’s College/Leinster)
Declan Fitzpatrick (Dungannon/Ulster)
Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster)
Jamie Heaslip (Dublin University/Leinster)
Chris Henry (Malone/Ulster)
Mike McCarthy (Leinster)
Jack McGrath (St. Mary’s College/Leinster)*
Kevin McLaughlin (St. Mary’s College/Leinster)
Sean O’Brien (UCD/Leinster)
Paul O’Connell (Young Munster/Munster)
Peter O’Mahony (Cork Constitution/Munster)
Mike Ross (Clontarf/Leinster)
Mike Sherry (Garryowen/Munster)
Devin Toner (Lansdowne/Leinster)
Dan Tuohy (Ballymena/Ulster)
*denotes uncapped player
The make up of the squad is consistent with recent years. The sole exile included is British and Irish Lions outhalf Johnny Sexton.
Those unavailable through injury, including Stephen Ferris, Richardt Strauss, Tommy O’Donnell, Jordi Murphy and Simon Zebo have unfortunately been added to over the weekend with Donnacha Ryan (knee) and Iain Henderson (toe) also ruled out.
Ireland Head Coach, Joe Schmidt, commented:
“The squad combines players who have shown form in the domestic season mixed with those who have a proven record at international level.
As always there were some very difficult decisions. Some players have had limited opportunity to impress due to injury and others have performed very well and it was difficult to leave them out.
The Guinness Series will demand plenty from the squad and I know they’ll be motivated by the challenge.”
