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• What did the South Africans ever do for us?
‘Connell and Best have been ruled out of the end of season tour of New Zealand and Australia through injury.
O’Connell has a groin injury that has not responsed to antibiotics and Best has an ankle injury, they will be replaced by Ed O’Donoghue and John Fogarty.
Ireland are already without Ferris, Leamy and Fitzgerald and now five uncapped players will travel.
Ireland will start three-Test tours again when they visit New Zealand in June 2012.
The NZRU announced that Ireland, France and England will take part in three-Test tours with them between 2012 and 2014 as part of the new global schedule agreed by the IRB.
June tours to New Zealand from 2012 to 2019: Ireland, Three Tests (2012); France, Three Tests (2013); England, Three Tests (2014); No tours due to Rugby World Cup (2015); Wales, Three Tests (2016); British & Irish Lions tour (2017); France, Three Tests (2018); No tours due to RWC in Japan (2019).
IRELAND Squad (2010 Summer Tour, June 4-June 26):
Backs (15) -
Tommy Bowe (Ospreys)
Gordon D’Arcy (Lansdowne/Leinster)
Keith Earls (Young Munster/Munster)
Shane Horgan (Boyne/Leinster)
Rob Kearney (UCD/Leinster)
Fergus McFadden (Old Belvedere/Leinster)*
Geordan Murphy (Leicester Tigers)
Brian O’Driscoll (UCD/Leinster)
Ronan O’Gara (Cork Constitution/Munster)
Tomas O’Leary (Dolphin/Munster)
Eoin Reddan (Lansdowne/Leinster)
Jonathan Sexton (St. Mary’s College/Leinster)
Peter Stringer (Shannon/Munster)
Andrew Trimble (Ballymena/Ulster)
Paddy Wallace (Ballymena/Ulster)
Forwards (18) -
Rory Best (Banbridge/Ulster)
Tony Buckley (Shannon/Munster)
Tom Court (Malone/Ulster)
Sean Cronin (Buccaneers/Connacht)
Jerry Flannery (Shannon/Munster)
John Hayes (Bruff/Munster)
Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster)
Jamie Heaslip (Naas/Leinster)
Chris Henry (Ballymena/Ulster)*
Marcus Horan (Shannon/Munster)
Shane Jennings (St. Mary’s College/Leinster)
Kevin McLaughlin (St. Mary’s College/Leinster)
John Muldoon (Galwegians/Connacht)
Donncha O’Callaghan (Cork Constitution/Munster)
Paul O’Connell (Young Munster/Munster)
Mick O’Driscoll (Cork Constitution/Munster)
Dan Tuohy (Ballymena/Ulster)*
David Wallace (Garryowen/Munster)
* Denotes uncapped player
Summer Tour Match Schedule:
Friday, June 4: Barbarians v Ireland XV, Thomond Park, 7.45pm
Saturday, June 12: New Zealand v Ireland, Yarrow Stadium, New Plymouth, 7.35pm (8.35am Irish time)
Friday, June 18: New Zealand Maori v Ireland XV, International Stadium, Rotorua, 7.35pm (8.35am Irish time)
Saturday, June 26: Australia v Ireland, Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane, 8pm (11am Irish time)
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Trying to achieve a balance during the summer tour of giving new players a run-in and get wins is a tough one, Declan Kidney thinks he’s cracked it with his tour squad for New Zealand and Australia.
Ireland will face the might of the All Blacks, Australia, the Barbarians and the New Zealand Maori all in June, so Kidney will be looking to test his squad depth after losing bothe the RBS 6 Nations and Triple Crown trophies.
Kidney commented on his selection process saying that he’s tried to get the right mix of experience and youth capping three new players and including four who don’t have a lot of game time.
“… they are going to need experienced players around them, because when you’re playing the number one and three ranked teams in the world then you’re going to need all the experience you have.
“There’s no hiding place, you could get wildly exposed and anytime you have a green jersey on, you don’t want that to happen.”
McFadden, Henry and Tuohy have all played for Ireland Wolfhounds (formerly Ireland ‘A’) in the last 12 months.
The O2 Team of the Decade has been chosen by a special panel of judges:
O2 IRUPA TEAM OF THE DECADE (2000-2009)
The pack:
1. Marcus Horan
2. Keith Wood
3. John Hayes
4. Malcolm O’Kelly
5. Paul O’Connell
6. Alan Quinlan
7. David Wallace
8. Anthony Foley
Backs:
9. Peter Stringer
10. Ronan O’Gara
11. Denis Hickie
12. Gordon D’Arcy
13. Brian O’Driscoll
14. Tommy Bowe
15. Geordan Murphy
Having won the RBS Six Nations Player of the Championship 2010, Tommy Bowe has now been awarded Bord Gáis Energy IRUPA Players’ Player of the Year award. Bowe also won this award in 2008!
Andrew Trimble picked up try of the year for his try against Bath in the Heineken Cup, Leinster’s John Fogarty collected the IRUPA Nokia Unsung Hero Award.
Girvan Dempsey was inducted into the Bord Gáis Energy IRUPA Hall of Fame, whilst Jamie Heaslip was awarded the Bord Gáis Energy IRUPA Supporters’ Player of the Year, voted for by listeners of Newstalk106-108 fm.
BORD GÁIS ENERGY IRUPA PLAYERS’ PLAYER OF THE YEAR 2010
Winner: Tommy Bowe (Ospreys)
Nominations:
Tommy Bowe (Ospreys)
Keith Earls (Munster)
Jamie Heaslip (Leinster)
IRUPA NOKIA UNSUNG HERO OF THE YEAR 2010
Winner: John Fogarty (Leinster)
Nominations:
John Fogarty (Leinster)
Chris Henry (Ulster)
Michael Swift (Connacht)
IRUPA NATURE VALLEY YOUNG PLAYER OF THE YEAR 2010
Winner: Fionn Carr (Connacht)
Nominations:
Fionn Carr (Connacht)
Scott Deasy (Munster)
Keith Earls (Munster)
BORD GÁIS ENERGY IRUPA HALL OF FAME 2010
Inducted: Girvan Dempsey (Leinster)
IRUPA VOLKSWAGEN TRY OF YEAR 2010
Winner: Andrew Trimble (Bath v Ulster, Heineken Cup)
Nominations:
Fionn Carr (Leinster v Connacht, Magner’s League)
Brian O’Driscoll (Leinster v Brive, Heineken Cup)
Andrew Trimble (Bath v Ulster, Heineken Cup)
SUPPORTERS’ PLAYER OF THE YEAR VOTED FOR BY LISTENERS OF NEWSTALK106-108FM
Jamie Heaslip (Leinster)
82 times capped Girvan Dempsey will retire at the end of Leinster’s play-off campaign, having made 174 appearances for his province since his debut in 96. In that time he has won the Celtic League and Magners League titles as well as the Heineken Cup.
Dempsey will be inducted into the Irish Rugby Union Players’ Association (IRUPA) Hall of Fame.
2011 RBS 6 NATIONS CHAMPIONSHIP FIXTURES:
- All kick-off times are local
Friday, February 4
Wales v England, Millennium Stadium, 7.45pm
Saturday, February 5
Italy v IRELAND, Stadio Flaminio, 3.30pm (2.30pm Irish time)
France v Scotland, Stade de France, 6pm
Saturday, February 12
England v Italy, Twickenham, 2.30pm
Scotland v Wales, Murrayfield, 5pm
Sunday, February 13
IRELAND v France, Aviva Stadium, 3pm
Saturday, February 26
Italy v Wales, Stadio Flaminio, 3.30pm
England v France, Twickenham, 5pm
Sunday, February 27
Scotland v IRELAND, Murrayfield, 3pm
Saturday, March 12
Italy v France, Stadio Flaminio, 3.30pm
Wales v IRELAND, Millennium Stadium, 5pm
Sunday, March 13
England v Scotland, Twickenham, 3pm
Saturday, March 19
Scotland v Italy, Murrayfield, 2.30pm
IRELAND v England, Aviva Stadium, 5pm
France v Wales, Stade de France, 8.45pm
Though Ireland came away with no Six Nations Trophy (Grand Slam or otherwise) and no Triple Crown after losing to Scotland, Tommy Bowe has been named RBS Six Nations Player of the Championship.
Despite being disappointed they hadn’t won, Tommy Bowe said:
“We can take an awful lot from the tournament. We played some good rugby, and we scored good tries. Myself and Keith Earls were the top try scorers in the tournament so there is a lot to take out of it.”
No Triple Crown for Ireland and Scotland avoid the Wooden Spoon with a worthy performance, thus ensuring France got a fifth Six Nations tournament win and still a chance of a Grand Slam with England to play.
Parks kicked a penalty in the sixth-minute after O’Connell was penalised for not rolling away, four minutes later Sexton showed pace and innovation to setup O’Driscoll for the first try of the game. Sexton converted to put 7-3 on the scoreboard inside 12 minutes.
Scotland bounced back with Morrison passing to Beattie who ran through tackles from Murphy, O’Connell and D’Arcy to touch down in the corner, Parks failed to convert.
With half an our on the clock, Sexton sent a 45m penalty wide whilst Parks was more successful with his 37th minute penalty after O’Callaghan failed to roll away. Parks then landed a drop goal from 35m out in the last minute of the half, leaving it 14-7.
After the break Sexton was again off-target and Parks wasn’t putting the Scottish 17-7 up. Sexton finally got a straightforward kick in front of the posts before he was taken off for O’Gara.
Parks unusually missed a penalty before Bowe worked a great third try of the tournament with O’Driscoll and D’Arcy. O’Gara converted from the tight angle putting it all square at 17-17.
With seven minutes to play Parks slotted a penalty and O’Gara levelled again through a penalty.
Parks put a long kick deep into Irish territory to put Rob Kearney under massive pressure, opting to run the ball out as Simon Danielli and Nick de Luca closed him down before being penalised for holding on in the tackle.
Parks stepped up, slowly, very slowly to boos from the Irish crowd to convert a winning penalty from the left touchline.
