5 Ulstermen named in Ireland squad for Australia tour

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The Lord Mayor of Belfast City Council, Nuala McAllister, held a Civic Reception for Ireland's Six Nations Champions at City Hall on Wednesday

By Simon Hunter

Ulster Rugby's John Cooney and Rob Herring have made the Ireland squad to tour Australia next month.

They'll join provincial teammates Iain Henderson (who's recovering from injury), Jacob Stockdale (Six Nations Player of the Tournament with his 7 tries) and Captain Rory Best.

The tourists play tests in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney.

The Skipper's told Q Radio they're in a good position.

Meanwhile lock Iain Henderson's recovering from injury, and hopes to be fit in time for the matches.

Q Radio asked Head Coach Joe Schmidt if he's bullish about their chances.

Schmidt went on to say, "This has probably been the most difficult selection process for the coaching group to date. We sat down on Monday morning to review the last pieces of footage and to discuss the balance and combinations that we felt we might need in Australia. 

At midday today (Wednesday) we made the final decisions which included a number of very tough calls and some players are incredibly unlucky to miss out on selection. 

Over the past couple of months the national coaches have spent time in the provinces and been in communication with the provincial coaches who have done a super job in managing the players across the season. 

The coaching group are excited by the challenge that this three Test tour will present and from talking to the players we get a sense that they too are excited about going on Tour and testing themselves against one of the best sides in the world in their own backyard."

Here's your 32-man lineup!

 

IRELAND SQUAD FOR SUMMER TOUR TO AUSTRALIA

 

FORWARDS (18)
Rory Best (Banbridge/Ulster) Captain 111 caps
Tadhg Beirne (Scarlets) uncapped
Jack Conan (Old Belvedere/Leinster) 7 caps
Sean Cronin (St Mary's College/Leinster) 61 caps
Tadhg Furlong (Clontarf/Leinster) 23 caps
Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster) 78 caps
Iain Henderson (Ballynahinch/Ulster) 38 caps
Rob Herring (Ballynahinch/Ulster) 3 caps
Dan Leavy (UCD/Leinster) 9 caps
Jack McGrath (St Mary's College/Leinster) 47 caps
Jordi Murphy (Lansdowne/Leinster) 20 caps
Peter O'Mahony (Cork Constitution/Munster) 47 caps
Andrew Porter (UCD/Leinster) 7 caps
Quinn Roux (Galwegians/Connacht) 5 caps
James Ryan (UCD/Leinster) 8 caps
John Ryan (Cork Constitution/Munster) 13 caps
CJ Stander (Shannon/Munster) 23 caps
Devin Toner (Lansdowne/Leinster) 58 caps

BACKS (14)
Bundee Aki (Galwegians/Connacht) 7 caps
Ross Byrne (UCD/Leinster) uncapped
Joey Carbery (Clontarf/Leinster) 10 caps
Andrew Conway (Garryowen/Munster) 6 caps
John Cooney (Terenure College RFC/Ulster) 1 cap
Keith Earls (Young Munster/Munster) 67 caps
Robbie Henshaw (Buccaneers/Leinster) 33 caps
Rob Kearney (UCD/Leinster) 83 caps
Jordan Larmour (St Mary's College/Leinster) 3 caps
Kieran Marmion (Corinthians/Connacht) 21 caps
Conor Murray (Garryowen/Munster) 64 caps
Garry Ringrose (UCD/Leinster) 13 caps
Johnny Sexton (St Mary's College/Leinster) 73 caps
Jacob Stockdale (Ballynahnch/Ulster) 9 caps

 

IRELAND SUMMER TOUR 2018 FIXTURES

 

Saturday 9th June

Australia v Ireland

Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane

Kick-off 11:05 BST

Last result here between the sides:

Australia 22-15 Ireland

Summer 2010

 

 

Saturday 16th June

Australia v Ireland

AAMI Park, Melbourne

Kick-off 11:05 BST

Last result in Melbourne between the sides:

Australia 18-12 Ireland

Summer 2008

 


Saturday 23rd June

Australia v Ireland

Allianz Park, Sydney

Kick-off 11:05 BST

Last result here between the sides:

Australia 32-18 Ireland

Summer 1994

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