Ireland

Our Bid

2023

News

Girvan Dempsey and Victor Costello have cried off the Whites team while David Quinlan, Ronan O'Gara, John Hayes and Anthony Foley will be missing from the Colours side for the National Trial game to be played in Lansdowne Road, this evening, Friday May 9th (6pm).

A damaged hamstring keeps Dempsey out of the Whites side and he will be replaced by Bryn Cunningham while Costello has a thigh strain and so Aidan McCullen moves from blindside flanker to No.8, with David Wallace switching toNo.6 and Colm McMahon coming into the team to play openside flanker.On the replacements bench, Niall Breslin replaces Aidan Kearney andNiall Best replaces McMahon.

The Colours team loses David Quinlan because the Leinster man has hamstring trouble and he is replaced by an in-form Mike Mullins.

A troublesome ankle means Ronan O'Gara misses out, he is replaced by Mark McHugh and in the pack, John Hayes (groin) and Anthony Foley (neck) are replaced by Simon Best and Denis Leamy, with Shane Byrne taking over the captaincy role from the injured Foley.

Whites: B Cunningham (Ulster); G D'Arcy (Leinster), J Kelly (Munster), J Bell (Ulster), A Horgan (Munster); D Humphreys capt (Ulster), P Stringer (Munster); R Corrigan (Leinster), F Sheahan (Munster), E Byrne (Leinster), D O'Callaghan (Munster), M O'Kelly (Leinster), D Wallace (Munster), A McCullan (Leinster), C McMahon (Munster). Replacements: J Blaney (Munster), J Fitzpatrick (Ulster), M O'Driscoll (Munster), N Best (Ulster), B O'Riordan (Leinster), J Holland (Munster), T Robinson (Connacht).

Colours: J Staunton (Munster); S Horgan (Leinster), M Mullins (Leinster), R Henderson (Munster), D Hickie (Leinster); M McHugh (Connacht), B O'Meara (Leinster); M Horan (Munster), S Byrne capt(Leinster), S Best (Ulster), L Cullen (Leinster), P O'Connell (Munster), A Quinlan (Munster), D Leamy (Munster), K Gleeson (Leinster).Replacements: J Flannery (Connacht), M Cahill (Munster) D Browne (Connacht), AN Other, E Reddan (Connacht), B Cunningham (Ulster), M Lawlor (Munster).

Marie Louise Reilly joined her Ireland team-mates Nora Stapleton and Lindsay Peat at a recent Dublin City Council event in support of the upcoming Women's Rugby World Cup. Reilly, who works as a DCC Sports Officer, said: "The team are coming together really well, we're working hard and hopefully August will be really memorable not just for us but for the whole country."

Speaking ahead of Saturday's second Test against Japan, Ireland tour captain Rhys Ruddock said: "We've been happy with the results so far, and there's been bits of the performances we've been really happy with and some bits that we're looking to improve on. Tomorrow marks the last opportunity to go out and do that, so we're all really excited about getting out there now."

Speaking about working with the provinces and monitoring players' progress, Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt told RTE Radio 1: "For us, having the best quality of performance within the provinces, getting some really good coaching from the provincial coaches, which we know is happening at the moment, that's the foundation that we need because in the end we get the players in a match week pretty much."