Ireland And Ireland ‘A’ Squads Named
Ireland coach Declan Kidney has announced a reduced 27-man squad for the opening game in the RBS 6 Nations Championship against France on Saturday week (February 7).
The team and replacements for the game will be selected next Tuesday ahead of the Croke Park clash.
There are 14 forwards included in the panel, with uncapped prop Tom Court from Ulster retained with the senior squad for next week.
The other members of the initial RBS 6 Nations Squad have moved into a 22-man Ireland ‘A’ squad for their match next Friday against England Saxons at Donnybrook. The starting team and replacements will also be confirmed next Tuesday.
Tickets for the Ireland ‘A’ v England Saxons game are currently available on http://www.ticketmaster.ie/.
IRELAND SQUAD (v France, 2009 RBS 6 Nations Championship, Croke Park, Saturday, February 7, kick-off 5pm):
Backs:
Tommy Bowe (Ospreys)
Girvan Dempsey (Terenure College – Leinster)
Gordon D’Arcy (Lansdowne – Leinster)
Keith Earls (Young Munster – Munster)
Luke Fitzgerald (Blackrock College – Leinster)
Shane Horgan (Boyne – Leinster)
Robert Kearney (UCD – Leinster)
Geordan Murphy (Leicester)
Brian O’Driscoll (UCD – Leinster) (capt)
Ronan O’Gara (Cork Constitution – Munster)
Tomas O’Leary (Dolphin – Munster)
Peter Stringer (Shannon – Munster)
Paddy Wallace (Ballymena – Ulster)
Forwards:
Rory Best (Banbridge – Ulster)
Tom Court (Malone – Ulster)*
Stephen Ferris (Dungannon – Ulster)
Jerry Flannery (Shannon – Munster)
John Hayes (Bruff- Munster)
Jamie Heaslip (Naas – Leinster)
Marcus Horan (Shannon – Munster)
Denis Leamy (Cork Constitution – Munster)
Donncha O’Callaghan (Cork Constitution – Munster)
Paul O’Connell (Young Munster – Munster)
Mick O’Driscoll (Cork Constitution – Munster)
Malcolm O’Kelly (St. Mary’s College – Leinster)
Alan Quinlan (Shannon – Munster)
David Wallace (Garryowen – Munster)
IRELAND ‘A’ SQUAD (v England Saxons, ‘A’ International Match, Donnybrook, Friday, February 6, kick-off 7.35pm):
Backs:
Isaac Boss (Ballymena – Ulster)
Darren Cave (Belfast Harlequins – Ulster)*
Ian Dowling (Shannon – Munster)*
Gavin Duffy (Galwegians – Connacht)
Ian Humphreys (Ballymena – Ulster)
Keith Matthews (Buccaneers – Connacht)
Eoin Reddan (Wasps)
Jonathan Sexton (St. Mary’s College – Leinster)*
Andrew Trimble (Ballymena – Ulster)
Forwards:
John Andress (Exeter)
Neil Best (Northampton)
Ryan Caldwell (Dungannon – Ulster)*
Bob Casey (London Irish)
Sean Cronin (Buccaneers -Connacht)
Cian Healy (Clontarf – Leinster)*
Bernard Jackman (Clontarf – Leinster)
Shane Jennings (St. Mary’s College – Leinster)
John Muldoon (Galwegians – Connacht)
Mike Ross (Harlequins)*
Donnacha Ryan (Shannon – Munster)
Sean O’Brien (Clontarf – Leinster)
AN Other to be added to the squad
* Denotes uncapped player