Ireland Rugby World Cup Squad Announcement

Ireland head coach Declan Kidney has today announced the 30-man squad for the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand. The squad will be captained by Brian O’Driscoll and contains a split of 16 forwards and 14 backs.

15 players will be travelling to the Rugby World Cup for the first time, including the recently-capped Fergus McFadden and Conor Murray.

Nine forwards will be making their first appearance in a Rugby World Cup squad, while six of the backs are tournament debutants.

Ireland play their final GUINNESS Summer Series game against England at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday, before flying out to New Zealand the following Tuesday.

IRELAND 2011 Rugby World Cup Squad:

Backs (14) –

Isaac Boss (Terenure College/Leinster)
Tommy Bowe (Ospreys) *
Gordon D’Arcy (Lansdowne/Leinster)
Keith Earls (Young Munster/Munster) *
Rob Kearney (UCD/Leinster) *
Fergus McFadden (Old Belvedere/Leinster) *
Geordan Murphy (Leicester Tigers)
Conor Murray (Garryowen/Munster) *
Brian O’Driscoll (UCD/Leinster) (capt)
Ronan O’Gara (Cork Constitution/Munster)
Eoin Reddan (Lansdowne/Leinster)
Jonathan Sexton (St. Mary’s College/Leinster) *
Andrew Trimble (Ballymena/Ulster)
Paddy Wallace (Ballymena/Ulster)

Forwards (16) –

Rory Best (Banbridge/Ulster)
Tony Buckley (Sale Sharks) *
Tom Court (Malone/Ulster) *
Sean Cronin (Leinster) *
Leo Cullen (Blackrock College/Leinster) *
Stephen Ferris (Dungannon/Ulster)
Jerry Flannery (Shannon/Munster)
Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster) *
Jamie Heaslip (Naas/Leinster) *
Denis Leamy (Cork Constitution/Munster)
Sean O’Brien (Clontarf/Leinster) *
Donncha O’Callaghan (Cork Constitution/Munster)
Paul O’Connell (Young Munster/Munster)
Mike Ross (Clontarf/Leinster) *
Donnacha Ryan (Shannon/Munster) *
David Wallace (Garryowen/Munster)

* Denotes first Rugby World Cup