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Ireland v Italy – Team announcement

Ireland Rugby — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 19:57:03 +0000

IRELAND Team & Replacements (v Italy, 2010 RBS 6 Nations Championship, Croke Park, Saturday, February 6, kick-off 2.30pm):

15 - Rob Kearney (UCD/Leinster)
14 - Tommy Bowe (Ospreys)
13 - Brian O’Driscoll (UCD/Leinster) (capt)
12 - Gordon D’Arcy (Lansdowne/Leinster)
11 - Andrew Trimble (Ballymena/Ulster)
10 - Ronan O’Gara (Cork Constitution/Munster)
9 - Tomas O’Leary (Dolphin/Munster)
1 - Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster)
2 - Jerry Flannery (Shannon/Munster)
3 - John Hayes (Bruff/Munster)
4 - Donncha O’Callaghan (Cork Constitution/Munster)
5 - Paul O’Connell (Young Munster/Munster)
6 - Kevin McLaughlin (St. Mary’s College/Leinster)
7 - David Wallace (Garryowen/Munster)
8 - Jamie Heaslip (Naas/Leinster)

Replacements:

16 - Rory Best (Banbridge/Ulster)
17 - Tom Court (Malone/Ulster)
18 - Leo Cullen (Blackrock College/Leinster)
19 - Sean O’Brien (Clontarf/Leinster)
20 - Eoin Reddan (Lansdowne/Leinster)
21 - Paddy Wallace (Ballymena/Ulster)
22 - Keith Earls (Young Munster/Munster)

Unavailable due to injury:

Jonathan Sexton (St. Mary’s College/Leinster)
Stephen Ferris (Dungannon/Ulster)

Mallet announces Italian side to face Ireland

Ireland Rugby — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 18:54:48 +0000

Italy squad for meeting with Ireland in Croke Park on Saturday, 6 February at 2.30pm.

Forwards: M Aguero (Saracens), Ma Bergamasco (Stade Francais), M Bortolami (Gloucester), M Castrogiovanni (Leicester), C Antonio Del Fava (Viadana), L Ghiraldini (Benetton Treviso), L Cittadini (Treviso), Q Geldenhuys (Viadana), S Perugini (Bayonne), J Sole (Viadana), A Zanni (Benetton Treviso), F Ongaro (Saracens).

Backs: R Bocchino (Rovigo), Mi Bergamasco (Stade Francais), G Canale (Clermont), A Masi (Racing Metro Paris), L McLean (Benetton Treviso), G Garcia (Treviso), C Gower (Bayonne), K Robertson (Viadana), A Sgarbi (Treviso), T Tebaldi (Gran Parma), S Picone (Treviso), P Derbyshire (Petrarca Padova).

The Wolfhounds Return

Ireland Rugby — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 12:44:03 +0000

Having been beaten by England Saxons the rebranded Ireland A team, the Irish Wolfhounds will be looking to get some winning momentium this weekend.

Ian Humphreys and Darren Cave who were both replacements against the Saxons are hoping to take centre stage when they entertain Scotland ‘A’ at Ravenhill.

Last time out Ireland won 35-10 through Sexton, Muldoon and Reddan. Sexton and Muldoon went on to win caps at senior level after this and looking at the squad several players now have caps at senior level!

IRELAND WOLFHOUNDS Squad (v Scotland ‘A’, ‘A’ International Match, Ravenhill, Friday, February 5, kick-off 7.30pm):

Isaac Boss (Ballymena/Ulster)
Nigel Brady (Dungannon/Ulster)
Tony Buckley (Shannon/Munster)
Ryan Caldwell (Dungannon/Ulster)
Darren Cave (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster)
Ian Dowling (Shannon/Munster)
Chris Henry (Ballymena/Ulster)
Marcus Horan (Shannon/Munster)
Ian Humphreys (Ballymena/Ulster)
Denis Hurley (Cork Constitution/Munster)
Shane Jennings (St. Mary’s College/Leinster)
Ian Keatley (Galwegians/Connacht)
Keith Matthews (Buccaneers/Connacht)
Fergus McFadden (Old Belvedere/Leinster)
Johne Murphy (Leicester Tigers)
Mick O’Driscoll (Cork Constitution/Munster)
Niall Ronan (Shannon/Munster)
Mike Ross (Clontarf/Leinster)
Peter Stringer (Shannon/Munster)
Devin Toner (Lansdowne/Leinster)

England Saxons 17 – 13 Ireland A

Ireland Rugby — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 11:33:01 +0000

Last time out Ireland A thrashed the English Saxons by 49 points, but that wasn’t the case this time and is surely something Martin Johnson will take heart from!

With seven matches unbeaten and their last time under the banner of Ireland A, the boys in green were out and out favourites for this game, but revenge was in the air for last years losers of the Churchill Cup.

Shane Geraghty was on form for the Saxons’ second try, two conversions and a penalty earned the Saxons a solid hard working win along with David Strettle’s try.

Paddy Wallace’s two first half penalties and Chris Henry’s (a late replacement for Niall Ronan) try converted by Wallace ensured this was going to be a full on match!

The Saxons spent much of the second half defending but couldn’t make it count after spending much of the last 15 minutes in the Saxons 22.

Ireland A: Wallace & Stringer

Ireland Rugby — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 10:18:35 +0000

Pairing Paddy Wallace and Peter Stringer at halfback is one of the more interesting decisions during Kidney’s time so far as Ireland coach.

Wallace has spent most of his rugby at inside centre for both Ulster and Ireland in recent seasons and will partner Stringer with 91 caps. This should give Stringer some game time if anything happens to Sexton or O’Gara.

The Wolfhounds Return

Ireland Rugby — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 11:21:48 +0000

In 1956 an invitational side “The Wolfhounds” was created by Karl Mullen and Jack Kyle to spread the rugby gospel to small towns and villages of Ireland. Over the years many great names in Irish Rugby represent the Wolfhounds including Brendan Mullin, Willie John McBride and Sir Anthony O’Reilly. The team much like the Barbarians had no home ground.

The last recorded appearance of the Irish Wolfhounds was in 1987 when they played against Greystones at Dr. Hickey Park to celebrate the club’s golden Jubilee.

After a recent competition among supporters club members – the Ireland A team will be rebreanded as the Irish Wolfhounds after their game against England Saxons, their first game will be against Scotland ‘A’ at Ravenhill on February 5th.

IRELAND ‘A’ Team & Replacements (v England Saxons, Recreation Ground, Bath, Sunday, January 31, kick-off 2pm):

15 - Gavin Duffy (Galwegians/Connacht)
14 - Fionn Carr (Galwegians/Connacht)
13 - Fergus McFadden (Old Belvedere/Leinster)
12 - Keith Matthews (Buccaneers/Connacht)
11 - Ian Dowling (Shannon/Munster)
10 - Paddy Wallace (Ballymena/Ulster)
9 - Peter Stringer (Shannon/Munster)
1 - Marcus Horan (Shannon/Munster)
2 - Rory Best (Banbridge/Ulster)
3 - Tony Buckley (Shannon/Munster)
4 - Mick O’Driscoll (Cork Constitution/Munster) (capt)
5 - Devin Toner (Lansdowne/Leinster)
6 - Shane Jennings (St.Mary’s College/Leinster)
7 - Sean O’Brien (Clontarf/Leinster)
8 - John Muldoon (Galwegians/Connacht)

Replacements:

16 - John Fogarty (De La Salle Palmerston/Leinster)
17 - Mike Ross (Clontarf/Leinster)
18 - Ryan Caldwell (Dungannon/Ulster)
19 - Niall Ronan (Shannon/Munster)
20 - Isaac Boss (Ballymena/Ulster)
21 - Ian Humphreys (Ballymena/Ulster)
22 - Darren Cave (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster)

Last Chance Saloon for Ireland Players

Ireland Rugby — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 10:06:28 +0000

The announcement yesterday of the Ireland A squad to face England Saxons this weekend in Bath is a chance to show where you are and what you might have in the bag for the Six Nations campaign. That’s nothing unusual, except this time Ireland A (soon to be rebranded “The Wolfhounds”) has some really strong contenders in it!

They’ll all want to impress, from the fringe players to those established and needing to show some form to Kidney.

Trimble makes a return after a quiet season, Best, Horan and Hurley have all recovered from injuries and need reintroducing to this level.

“There are a few guys who have not had much game time over Christmas,” said Irish team manager Paul McNaughton. “Marcus has had 60 to 70 minutes with Shannon, so he’s had about 120 minutes of club rugby and the last 10 minutes of the Munster game.

“Rory had about 60 minutes in a club game last week. He’d be expected to get game time (against Saxons). So, the A game is an opportunity for Marcus and Rory because they haven’t been playing for the last two or three months.”

They’ll have even more to prove with several of the full ireland squad players sitting out training yesterday (Stephen Ferris, Donncha O’Callaghan, Seán Cronin, Ronan O’Gara, Gordon D’Arcy, Jonathan Sexton and Shane Horgan), all eyes are on the first game against Italy and other than Fitzgerald (long term injured) nobody has been discounted.

U20 Squad Announced

Ireland Rugby — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 15:43:24 +0000

14 forwards and 12 backs have been named by Allen Clarke in the Under 20s squad which features seven previous U20 players.

IRELAND UNDER-20 Squad (2010 RBS U-20 6 Nations Championship):

Backs (12) -

Andrew Conway (Blackrock College RFC/Leinster)
John Cooney (UCD/Leinster)*
Eoin Griffin (Corinthians/Connacht)
Michael Heaney (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster)
Darren Hudson (St. Mary’s College RFC/Leinster)
Brian Kingston (Blackrock College RFC/Leinster)
Brendan Macken (Blackrock College RFC/Leinster)
James McKinney (Queen’s University/Ulster)
David McSharry (UCD/Leinster)
Tiernan O’Halloran (Galwegians/Connacht)
Nevin Spence (Ballynahinch/Ulster)*
Simon Zebo (Cork Constitution/Munster)

Forwards (14) -

Niall Annett (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster)
Denis Buckley (Corinthians/Connacht)
Patrick Butler (Shannon/Munster)
Bryan Cagney (UCC/Munster)
David Doyle (UCD/Leinster)
Brian Hayes (Cork Constitution/Munster)*
Stewart Maguire (Old Belvedere/Leinster)
Ben Marshall (UCD/Leinster)
Jordi Murphy (Blackrock College RFC/Leinster)
Robin O’Sullivan (Bective Rangers/Leinster)
David O’Callaghan (UCC/Munster)*
Jack O’Connell (Lansdowne/Leinster)*
Rhys Ruddock (UCD/Leinster)*
Dominic Ryan (Lansdowne/Leinster)*

* Denotes previously capped player at Under-20 level

Squad for Six Nations 2010

Ireland Rugby — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 15:31:30 +0000

A squad of 44 has been named to cover the competitive fixtures over the next 3 weeks which include two ‘A’ games against England Saxons and Scotland ‘A’.

Declan Kidney was keen to stress that there were three priorities with this squad, Ireland A fixtures, the opening Six Nations game against Italy and the Rugby World Cup.

Nine uncapped players feature in the squad, along with a couple of returns in Rory Best and Marcus Horan.

IRELAND Squad (2010 RBS 6 Nations Championship):

Rory Best (Banbridge/Ulster)
Isaac Boss (Ballymena/Ulster)
Tommy Bowe (Ospreys)
Tony Buckley (Shannon/Munster)
Tom Court (Malone/Ulster)
Sean Cronin (Buccaneers/Connacht)
Leo Cullen (Blackrock College/Leinster)
Gordon D’Arcy (Lansdowne/Leinster)
Ian Dowling (Shannon/Munster)
Keith Earls (Young Munster/Munster)
Stephen Ferris (Dungannon/Ulster)
Declan Fitzpatrick (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster)*
Jerry Flannery (Shannon/Munster)
John Fogarty (De La Salle Palmerston/Leinster)*
John Hayes (Bruff/Munster)
Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster)
Jamie Heaslip (Naas/Leinster)
Chris Henry (Ballymena/Ulster)*
Marcus Horan (Shannon/Munster)
Shane Horgan (Boyne/Leinster)
Denis Hurley (Cork Constitution/Munster)
Shane Jennings (St. Mary’s College/Leinster)
Rob Kearney (UCD/Leinster)
Fergus McFadden (Old Belvedere/Leinster)*
Kevin McLaughlin (St. Mary’s College/Leinster)*
Johne Murphy (Leicester)*
Donncha O’Callaghan (Cork Constitution/Munster)
Paul O’Connell (Young Munster/Munster)
Mick O’Driscoll (Cork Constitution/Munster)
Brian O’Driscoll (UCD/Leinster)
Ronan O’Gara (Cork Constitution/Munster)
Tomas O’Leary (Dolphin/Munster)
Sean O’Brien (Clontarf/Leinster)
Eoin Reddan (Lansdowne/Leinster)
Mike Ross (Clontarf/Leinster)
Donnacha Ryan (Shannon/Munster)
Jonathan Sexton (St. Mary’s College/Leinster)
Peter Stringer (Shannon/Munster)
Devin Toner (Lansdowne/Leinster)*
Andrew Trimble (Ballymena/Ulster)
Dan Tuohy (Ballymena/Ulster)*
David Wallace (Garryowen/Munster)
Paddy Wallace (Ballymena/Ulster)
Brett Wilkinson (Galwegians/Connacht)*

* Denotes uncapped player

Player of the Decade: O’Driscoll

Ireland Rugby — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 15:20:48 +0000

From a stunning hat-trick on his debut against France in the Six Nations 2000, to leading Leinster to the Heineken Cup, to leading Ireland to a first Grand Slam in 61 years O’Driscoll has had a massive career (and that doesn’t even mention his three Lions tours!).

O’Driscoll was the only Irishman included in the Rugby World magazine’s Team of the Decade featuring seven North Hemisphere players and nine from the South.

RUGBY WORLD TEAM OF THE DECADE: Mils Muliana (New Zealand); Jason Robinson (England), Brian O’Driscoll (Ireland), Matt Giteau (Australia), Shane Williams (Wales); Dan Carter (New Zealand), Agustin Pichot (Argentina); Gethin Jenkins (Wales), John Smit (South Africa), Carl Hayman (New Zealand), Martin Johnson (England) (capt), Victor Matfield (South Africa), Richard Hill (England), Richie McCaw (New Zealand), Sergio Parisse (Italy).

Replacements: Rodrigo Roncero (Argentina), Mario Ledesma (Argentina), Sylvain Marconnet (France), Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe (Argentina), Fourie Du Preez (South Africa), Jonny Wilkinson (England), Yannick Jauzion (France), Juan Martin Hernandez (Argentina).