Rugby:Paul O'Connell will join up with his Ireland teammates for a two-day training camp at the beginning of next week. O'Connell has yet to feature for Munster this season as he continues to rehabilitate his back problem but has been included in the national get-together by coach Declan Kidney.
Although O’Connell and Rory Best – another player yet to see domestic action this term – will assemble at Carton House for the training sessions, Rob Kearney has been excused from duty as he finalises his pre-season with Leinster. Sean O’Brien and Luke Fitzgerald, both nursing long term injuries, are also among the absentees.
“At this stage of the season it is about building foundations for the Guinness Series and it is vital to get the players together to do that,” Kidney said today. “A number of them have yet to play, but it was important to include some of them from a positional sense for this camp, such as Paul and Rory, as well as other players who missed the summer tour.
“There are a number of players who are not included due to injuries and will continue their rehab and their preseason work in their provinces, but with more playing time and a lot of high level games to come, there is certainly time for them to push for their inclusion in the Guinness series squad and selection for the games in November.”
There are three new faces in the squad, with Ulster’s highly rated second row Iain Henderson rewarded for his performances at the Junior World Cup in the summer. He is joined by his Ulster teammate Luke Marshall and Munster’s Dave O’Callaghan.
There is no place in the squad, for the time being at least, for Leinster hooker Richardt Strauss. The South African native becomes eligible to play for Ireland next month and although he trained with the squad during the Six Nations last February, is not included in this selection.
Ireland face South Africa, Fiji and Argentina in November and Kidney, whose current contract runs out after next year’s Six Nations, knows how important the matches could turn out to be with valuable World Cup seedings at stake.
Ireland currently occupy seventh place in the IRB rankings, but could fall out of the top eight and lose their second seed status if results this autumn don’t go their way.
Ireland squad(33): Rory Best (Banbridge – Ulster), Tommy Bowe (Belfast Harlequins – Ulster), Darren Cave (Belfast Harlequins – Ulster), Tom Court (Malone – Ulster), Sean Cronin (Lansdowne – Leinster), Gordon D'Arcy (Lansdowne – Leinster), Keith Earls (Young Munster – Munster), Stephen Ferris (Dungannon – Ulster), Declan Fitzpatrick (Dungannon – Ulster), Cian Healy (Clontarf – Leinster), Jamie Heaslip (Naas – Leinster), Iain Henderson (Queens University – Ulster), Chris Henry (Ballymena – Ulster), Denis Hurley (Dolphin– Munster), Luke Marshall (Ballymena – Ulster), Conor Murray (Garryowen – Munster), Mike McCarthy (Buccaneers – Connacht), Fergus McFadden (Old Belvedere – Leinster), Kevin McLaughlin (St. Mary's College – Leinster), David O'Callaghan (Dolphin – Munster), Donncha O'Callaghan (Cork Constitution – Munster), Paul O'Connell (Young Munster – Munster), Brian O'Driscoll (UCD – Leinster), Ronan O'Gara (Cork Constitution – Munster), Peter O'Mahony (Cork Constitution – Munster), Eoin Reddan (Lansdowne – Leinster), Mike Ross (Clontarf – Leinster), Donnacha Ryan (Shannon – Munster), Jonathan Sexton (St.Mary's College – Leinster), Andrew Trimble (Ballymena – Ulster), Dan Tuohy (Ballymena – Ulster), Damien Varley (Garryowen – Munster), Simon Zebo (Cork Constitution – Munster).
