Ireland Squad Revealed For 2018 GUINNESS Series

Leinster out-half Ross Byrne, who was an uncapped member of Ireland tour squad that won the summer series 2-1 against Australia in June, is one of three uncapped players in the squad for the November internationals.

Munster centre Sam Arnold, who trained with the squad during last season’s Six Nations title-winning run, and versatile Ulster back Will Addison, a summer arrival at Kingspan Stadium, have also been included.

First up for Ireland is a return to Soldier Field on Saturday, November 3 (kick-off 3pm local time/8pm Irish time) to face Conor O’Shea’s Italy as part of a triple-header Rugby Weekend in Chicago. Tickets are available to buy online here.

This year’s much-anticipated GUINNESS Series kicks off at the Aviva Stadium with the visit of Argentina on Saturday, November 10 (kick-off 6.30pm). The Pumas, under the direction of Mario Ledesma, have recently recorded victories over Australia (23-19) and South Africa (32-19) in the Rugby Championship.

Ireland and Argentina have met 17 times at Test level with Ireland winning 11 of those, the most recent a 28-19 win at the Aviva Stadium in last season’s GUINNESS Series.

Rugby Championship winners New Zealand return to Dublin a week later (kick-off 7pm) for the first time since claiming a hard-fought win in 2016. The final game of the series sees Ireland host the USA for the first time at the Aviva Stadium, on Saturday, November 24 (kick-off 6.30pm). The teams last met in June 2017 as part of the summer tour.

Speaking about the selected squad, Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt said, “As always there have been a number of close calls in selection, meaning that some very good players have missed out in this particular window.
 
“The upcoming GUINNESS Series offers an exciting opportunity for the squad but will also be very challenging. We are certainly looking forward to getting back to a packed Aviva Stadium with the fantastic support that we get there.”

The Rugby Weekend fixture against Italy will be broadcast live by eir Sport and Premier Sports, and the three GUINNESS Series clashes will be broadcast by RTE TV & Radio and Channel 4. Any remaining GUINNESS Series tickets are available to purchase on Ticketmaster.ie.

IRELAND Squad (GUINNESS Series & The Rugby Weekend, November 2018):

Player/Club/Province/Caps –

Backs (18):

Will Addison (Enniskillen/Ulster) *
Bundee Aki (Galwegians/Connacht) 9
Sam Arnold (Garryowen/Munster) *
Ross Byrne (UCD/Leinster) *
Joey Carbery (Clontarf/Munster) 12
Andrew Conway (Garryowen/Munster) 7
John Cooney (Terenure College/Ulster) 2
Keith Earls (Young Munster/Munster) 70
Robbie Henshaw (Buccaneers/Leinster) 36
Rob Kearney (UCD/Leinster) 86
Jordan Larmour (St. Mary’s College/Leinster) 6
Kieran Marmion (Corinthians/Connacht) 22
Stuart McCloskey (Bangor/Ulster) 2
Luke McGrath (UCD/Leinster) 6
Garry Ringrose (UCD/Leinster) 14
Jonathan Sexton (St. Mary’s College/Leinster) (vice-capt) 76
Jacob Stockdale (Ballynahinch/Ulster) 11
Darren Sweetnam (Cork Constitution/Munster) 2

Forwards (24):

Rory Best (Banbridge/Ulster) (capt) 111
Finlay Bealham (Buccaneers/Connacht) 7
Tadhg Beirne (Munster) 2
Jack Conan (Old Belvedere/Leinster) 9
Sean Cronin (St. Mary’s College/Leinster) 62
Tadhg Furlong (Clontarf/Leinster) 26
Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster) 81
Iain Henderson (Queen’s University/Ulster) 39
Rob Herring (Ballynahinch/Ulster) 6
Dave Kilcoyne (UL Bohemians/Munster) 22
Dan Leavy (UCD/Leinster) 10
Jack McGrath (St. Mary’s College/Leinster) 50
Jordi Murphy (Ulster) 23
Sean O’Brien (UCD/Leinster) 51
Peter O’Mahony (Cork Constitution/Munster) (vice-capt) 50
Andrew Porter (UCD/Leinster) 8
Quinn Roux (Galwegians/Connacht) 6
Rhys Ruddock (St. Mary’s College/Leinster) 19
James Ryan (UCD/Leinster) 11
John Ryan (Cork Constitution/Munster) 15
Niall Scannell (Dolphin/Munster) 9
CJ Stander (Shannon/Munster) 26
Devin Toner (Lansdowne/Leinster) 60
Josh van der Flier (UCD/Leinster) 10

* Denotes uncapped player