Four Changes For ‘A’ Team

…Ulster full-back Bryn Cunningham who will get a chance to impress in Santa Clara…

The Ireland ‘A’ team to take on the New Zealand Maori in Saturday’s Barclays Churchill Cup Pool B clash shows four changes to the side that beat the USA last weekend.

With team manager Joey Miles reporting an injury-free camp, the switches are a case of squad rotation. Full-back Bryn Cunningham, centre Kieran Lewis, scrum half Chris Keane and flanker Roger Wilson – all non-starters for the 28-13 victory over the US Eagles – will get their chance to impress at the Buck Shaw Stadium tomorrow (kick-off 10.00pm Irish time).

John Hearty, Andrew Maxwell, Tomas O’Leary and John Muldoon are the players to make way. Leinster’s Robert Kearney, who started at full-back against the US, takes Maxwell’s left wing berth with Cunningham coming in at number 15.

Reflecting on a week of hard training and team-bonding trips in San Jose and San Francisco, Miles said: “It has been a very good week for us. Last Monday we were guests of the San Francisco Giants baseball team. It was the Irish Heritage night in the bay area, there were about 40,000 people at the game and the team were on the national TV coverage of the game.

“Roger Wilson and Andrew Maxwell were requested to come down and join in the singing of “Take Me Out To The Ball Game” which is a great honour and tradition in baseball. A special T-shirt for the night was also given out.

“We also went for an outing to Alcatraz prison last Sunday. We’ve currently no injuries in the camp. The squad watched an impressive win for the Maori against the USA on Wednesday, and are looking forward to facing them on Saturday night.”

IRELAND ‘A’ TEAM AND REPLACEMENTS (v New Zealand Maori, Buck Shaw Stadium, Santa Clara, Barclays Churchill Cup, Saturday, June 10):

15 – Bryn Cunningham (Dungannon/Ulster) 0 Senior caps (3 ‘A’ caps)
14 – Simon Keogh (Harlequins) 0 (1)
13 – Kieran Lewis (St. Mary’s College/Leinster) 1 (4)
12 – David Quinlan (Northampton Saints) 2 (2)
11 – Robert Kearney (UCD/Leinster) 0 (1)
10 – Paddy Wallace (Ballymena/Ulster) 0 (9)
9 – Chris Keane (Buccaneers/Connacht) 0 (2)
1 – Ray Hogan (Galwegians/Connacht) 0 (3)
2 – John Fogarty (Buccaneers/Connacht) 0 (3)
3 – Tom Court (Ballymena/Ulster) 0 (1)
4 – Trevor Hogan (Shannon/Munster) 2 (3)
5 – Matt McCullough (Ballymena/Ulster) 4 (4)
6 – Roger Wilson (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster) 1 (3)
7 – Shane Jennings (Leicester Tigers) (capt) 0 (4)
8 – Jamie Heaslip (Clontarf/Leinster) 0 (3)

Replacements:

16 – Brian Blaney (Terenure College/Leinster) 0 (2)
17 – Declan Fitzpatrick (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster) 0 (1)
18 – Damien Browne (Northampton Saints) 0 (1)
19 – Neil McMillan (Ballymena/Ulster) 0 (1)
20 – Tomas O’Leary (Dolphin/Munster) 0 (3)
21 – Eoghan Hickey (UCD/Leinster) 0 (1)
22 – tbc

Referee: Andrew Small (England)
Touch judges: Peter Allen (Scotland), Phil Smith (Canada)

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