British & Irish Lions
• British & Irish Lions tour Australia in 2013
Ireland Rugby
Ireland A make it to the Churchill Cup Final
The Irish A team is to take on their English counterparts, the Saxons, in the final of the Churchill Cup. The side that will face the Saxons have seven changes all together. The progression to the final follows a successful campaign against both Canada and Georgia in the pool element of the tournament.
The changes represent the rotating strategy that the Irish coach Declan Kidney has adopted throughout the tournament. The main aim of this is to give the players valuable match experience which will help in their personal goals towards making the Irish team. Interestingly most of the changes are simply a case of swapping starting and benched players and all have a similar degree of match experience.
The seven changes include Dennis Hurley to start at right wing, the left wing will be filled by Johne Murphy and Keith Mathews is to play at centre. Isaac Boss and Jonathan Sexton will both get starting positions as scrum and out half respectively. Chris Henry and Neil Best (who will also take on the captaincy) are the two starting flankers for this game and finally Sean Cronin will be the starting hooker.
The coaching staff are positive about their chances against the English, who are the defending champions. There is a sense of cautious optimism in the camp and the feeling that the team is definitely up for the challenge. It is clear that both teams will want to make a strong statement on the day.
IRELAND ‘A’ TEAM & REPLACEMENTS
15 – Felix Jones (Seapoint/Leinster)
14 – Denis Hurley (Cork Constitution/Munster)
13 – Fergus McFadden (UCD/Leinster)
12 – Keith Matthews (Buccaneers/Connacht)
11 – Johne Murphy (Leicester Tigers)
10 – Jonathan Sexton (St. Mary’s College/Leinster)
9 – Isaac Boss (Ballymena/Ulster)
1 – Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster)
2 – Sean Cronin (Buccaneers/Connacht)
3 – Tony Buckley (Shannon/Munster)
4 – Donnacha Ryan (Shannon/Munster)
5 – Devin Toner (Lansdowne/Leinster)
6 – Neil Best (Northampton Saints) (capt)
7 – Niall Ronan (Shannon/Munster)
8 – Chris Henry (Ballymena/Ulster)
Replacements:
16 – Denis Fogarty (Cork Constitution/Munster)
17 – Bryan Young (Ballymena/Ulster)
18 – Trevor Hogan (Blackrock College/Leinster)
19 – John Muldoon (Galwegians/Connacht)
20 – Simon Keogh (OId Belvedere/Leinster)
21 – Niall O’Connor (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster)
22 – James Downey (Northampton Saints)