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Ireland squad for NZ tour
Ireland head coach Declan Kidney has named a 29 man squad that includes three uncapped players for the three test tour of New Zealand in June.
Declan Fitzpatrick and Mike Sherry are included up front while Simon Zebo is named in the backs as is Darren Cave, who won two caps on the North American tour in 2009.
There are a number of spaces left vacant with a further prop, second row, back row and scrum half to be added before the squad departs for New Zealand.
Brian O’Driscoll returns to the Ireland squad for the first time since the Rugby World Cup and has been confirmed as Captain for the tour.
Ireland Squad
(New Zealand Tour 2012, June 9th, 16th and 23rd):
Forwards (16):
Rory Best (Banbridge/Ulster)
Sean Cronin (St. Mary’s College/Leinster)
Stephen Ferris (Dungannon/Ulster)
Declan Fitzpatrick (Dungannon /Ulster)*
Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster)
Jamie Heaslip (Naas/Leinster)
Sean O’Brien (Clontarf/Leinster)
Donncha O’Callaghan (Cork Constitution/Munster)
Peter O’Mahony (Cork Constitution/Munster)
Mike Ross (Clontarf/Leinster)
Donnacha Ryan (Shannon/Munster)
Mike Sherry (Garryowen/Munster)*
Dan Tuohy (Ballymena /Ulster)
A.N. Other
A.N. Other
A.N. Other
Backs (13):
Darren Cave ( Belfast Harlequins/Ulster)
Gordon D’Arcy (Lansdowne/Leinster)
Keith Earls (Young Munster/Munster)
Rob Kearney (UCD/Leinster)
Fergus McFadden (Old Belvedere/Leinster)
Conor Murray (Garryowen/Munster)
Brian O’Driscoll (UCD/Leinster)
Ronan O’Gara (Cork Constitution/Munster)
Eoin Reddan (Lansdowne/Leinster)
Jonathan Sexton (St. Mary’s College/Leinster)
Andrew Trimble (Ballymena/Ulster)
Simon Zebo (Cork Constitution/Munster)*
A.N. Other
*Denotes Uncapped Player
Apparently fitness pending the “Others” will be Tom Court/Brett Wilkinson, Paul O’Connell, Chris Henry and Isaac Boss or else Paul Marshall.
I don’t see the point in bringing Boss, he’s 32 and he’s going to be third choice, surely it’s better to bring Marshall for the experience? Neither are likely to play anyway.
Zebo over Gilroy isn’t a surprise but wrong IMO.
Paddy Wallace is very very hard done by.
It probably sounds like I’m focusing on the Ulster players…maybe I am but it’s not intentional, those are the guys that are unlucky IMO.
Anyway it should be interesting to see how many of the 29 get at least 40 minutes of test rugby over the three weeks.