The Ireland Coaching Team has named a squad of 37 players for the forthcoming Guinness Series which features Tests against South Africa, Georgia and Australia.
The squad, captained by Paul O’Connell, features five uncapped players including Connacht’s Darragh Leader and Nathan White, Ulster’s Jared Payne, Munster’s Dave Foley and Leinster’s Dominic Ryan.
Ireland take on Heyneke Meyer’s South Africa at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday 8th November. The Springboks ended the All Blacks’ unbeaten run of 22 games with their victory at Ellis Park in the final game of the Rugby Championship in early October.
On Sunday 16th November, Ireland play host to Georgia who have a plethora of players plying their trade at leading French Top 14 clubs.
The final game of the Guinness Series will take place on Saturday 22nd November with the return of the Wallabies who recorded a victory in Dublin last November. The games against South Africa and Australia are sell-outs while there remain opportunities to secure tickets for the game against Georgia.
Players unavailable for selection due to injury include Keith Earls, Luke Fitzgerald (returning from long term injury), Cian Healy, Iain Henderson, Dave Kearney, Luke Marshall, Fergus McFadden, Martin Moore, Jordi Murphy, Sean O’Brien, Donnacha Ryan, Mike Sherry, Dan Touhy, Andrew Trimble and Damien Varley.
IRELAND 2014 Guinness Series Squad:
Forwards (21)
Stephen Archer (Cork Constitution/Munster) 2
Rodney Ah You (Corinthians/Connacht) 1
Rory Best (Banbridge/Ulster) 77
James Cronin (Dolphin/Munster) 1
Sean Cronin (St Mary’s College/Leinster) 35
Robbie Diack (Malone/Ulster) 1
Dave Foley (UL Bohemians/Munster) *
Chris Henry (Malone/Ulster) 16
Jamie Heaslip (Naas/Leinster) 67
Dave Kilcoyne (UL Bohemians/Munster) 10
Mike McCarthy (Lansdowne/Leinster) 15
Jack McGrath (St Mary’s College/Leinster) 10
Paul O’Connell (Young Munster/Munster) 94 CAPTAIN
Tommy O’Donnell (UL Bohemians/Munster) 4
Peter O’Mahony (Cork Constitution/Munster) 23
Mike Ross (Clontarf/Leinster) 41
Rhys Ruddock (St Mary’s College/Leinster) 3
Dominic Ryan (Lansdowne/Leinster) *
Richardt Strauss (Old Wesley/Leinster) 4
Devin Toner (Lansdowne/Leinster) 17
Nathan White (Galwegians/Connacht) *
Backs (16)
Tommy Bowe (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster) 54
Gordon D’Arcy (Lansdowne/Leinster) 79
Craig Gilroy (Dungannon/Ulster) 5
Robbie Henshaw (Buccaneers/Connacht) 3
Felix Jones (Shannon/Munster) 6
Rob Kearney (UCD/Leinster) 55
Ian Keatley (Young Munster/Munster) 2
Darragh Leader (Galwegians/Connacht) *
Ian Madigan (Blackrock/Leinster) 10
Kieran Marmion (Galwegians/Connacht) 2
Conor Murray (Garryowen/Munster) 28
Stuart Olding (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster) 1
Jared Payne (Ulster) *
Eoin Reddan (Lansdowne/Leinster) 55
Johnny Sexton (Racing Metro) 45
Simon Zebo (Cork Constitution/Munster) 8
*Denotes uncapped player
2014 Guinness Series Fixtures
IRELAND v South Africa
Saturday 8th November, 2014
Aviva Stadium, K.O. 17:30
IRELAND v Georgia
Sunday 16th November, 2014
Aviva Stadium, K.O. 14:30
IRELAND v Australia
Saturday 22nd November, 2014
Aviva Stadium, K.O. 16:30
