Rory Best will lead Ireland’s 28-man squad for their tour to the United States and Canada after being overlooked by the British and Irish Lions. Best was expected to be in action in Australia this summer, but was left out by Lions head coach Warren Gatland in favour of England’s Dylan Hartley.
The Ulster hooker, who was also captain of Ireland’s tour in 2009, leads a squad containing six uncapped players in scrum-half Kieran Marmion, centre Stuart Olding, scrumhalf Paul Marshall, fullback Robbie Henshaw, prop Jamie Hagan, openside Tommy O’Donnell and hooker Mike Sherry.
“We have selected a squad who have the right mix of youth and experience and I’m really looking forward to working with them over the next few weeks,” acting head coach Les Kiss said. “USA and Canada have improved enormously since the 2011 World Cup and we know we will be in for two tough Test matches.”
A number of players - Craig Gilroy (groin), Luke Marshall (concussion), Donnacha Ryan (shoulder), Stephen Ferris, Eoin Reddan, Luke Fitzgerald, Gordon D’Arcy, David McSharry, Keith Earls and Stephen Archer - were not considered because of injury.
A 26-man squad for the Georgia Tour has also been announced and will be captained by Leinster backrow Rhys Ruddock abd will also include his provincial team-mate Seán Cronin, who lost out to Mike Sherry for a place in the north America squad.
“The Georgian tour will be a great experience for the players, most of who have recently come through the Ireland underage system,” added Kiss. “It will be a tough tour with three games in 14 days and a smaller squad of 26 players, which should mean everyone getting significant game time.”
It was also confirmed today that Kiss will be part of incoming head coach Joe Schmidt’s team for the next three years.
Schmidt will arrive in the US before the first game on June 8th and will remain with the squad for the week in Canada before the second test in toronto on June 15th.
Ireland Squad (North American Tour - USA & Canada)
Rory Best (Banbridge/Ulster), Isaac Boss (Terenure College/Leinster), Darren Cave (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster), Tom Court (Ulster), Declan Fitzpatrick (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster), Jamie Hagan (Old Belvedere/Leinster)*, Iain Henderson (Ballynahinch/Ulster), Chris Henry (Malone/Ulster), Robbie Henshaw (Buccaneers/Connacht)*, Paddy Jackson (Dungannon/Ulster), Felix Jones (Shannon/Munster), David Kilcoyne (UL Bohemians/Munster), Ian Madigan (Blackrock College/Leinster), Kieran Marmion (Galwegians/Connacht)*, Paul Marshall (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster)*, Mike McCarthy (Buccaneers/Connacht), Fergus McFadden (Old Belvedere/Leinster), Kevin McLaughlin (St. Marys/Leinster), Tommy O’Donnell (UL , ohemians/Munster)*, Stuart Olding (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster)*, Peter O’Mahony (Cork Constitution/Munster), Mike Ross (Clontarf/Leinster), Mike Sherry (Garryowen/Munster)*, Richardt Strauss (Old Wesley/Leinster), Devin Toner(Lansdowne/Leinster), Andrew Trimble (Ballymena/Ulster), Dan Tuohy (Ballymena/Ulster), Simon Zebo (Cork Constitution/Munster)
Emerging Ireland squad (Tblisi Cup, Georgia)
Michael Allen (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster)*, Michael Bent (Leinster), Andrew Conway (Blackrock/Leinster)*, John Cooney (Lansdowne/Leinster)*, Sean Cronin (St. Mary’s/Leinster), David Foley (UL Bohemian/Munster)*, Eoin Griffin (Galwegians/Connacht)*, Cathal Marsh ()*, Michael Heaney (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster)*, Robert Herring (Ballynahinch/Ulster)*, David Kearney (Lansdowne/Leinster)*, Ian Keatley (Young Munster/Munster), Richard Lutton (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster)*, Brendan Macken (Blackrock/Leinster)*, Jack McGrath (St. Mary’s/Leinster)*, Eoin McKeon (Galwegians/Connacht)*, Martin Moore (Lansdowne/Leinster)*, Niall Morris (Leicester/Exiles)*, Jordi Murphy (Lansdowne/Leinster)*,
Ian Nagle (Cork Constitution/Munster)*, Robbie Diack ()*, Tiernan O’Halloran (Galwegians/Connacht)*, Rhys Ruddock (St. Mary’s/Leinster), Dominic Ryan (Lansdowne/Leinster)*, John Ryan (Cork Constitution/Munster)*, Lewis Stevenson (Malone/Ulster)*
* denotes uncapped player
