The Ireland Coaching Group have announced 8 Ulster players among the 42 player squad for the upcoming sold out 2018 Guinness Series and The Rugby Weekend fixture in Chicago.
Ireland will play four Test matches in November with the first fixture seeing the squad return to Chicago to participate in The Rugby Weekend at Soldier Field taking on Conor O’Shea’s Italy on Saturday 3rd November.
Argentina are Ireland’s first opponents of the 2018 Guinness Series at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday 10th November. Under the direction of Mario Ledesma Los Pumas have recently recorded victories over Australia and South Africa in the Rugby Championship.
On Saturday 17th November New Zealand return to the Aviva Stadium for the first time since claiming a hard fought victory in 2016. The final game of the Guinness Series sees Ireland host USA Rugby in what will be the Eagles first visit to the Aviva Stadium.
Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt, commented, "As always there have been a number of close calls in selection, meaning that some very good players have missed out in this particular window.
The upcoming Guinness Series offers an exciting opportunity for the squad but will also be very challenging. We are certainly looking forward to getting back to a packed Aviva Stadium with the fantastic support that we get there."
The Rugby Weekend fixture against Italy will be broadcast by Eir/Premier Sports and the Guinness Series will be broadcast by RTE TV & Radio and Channel 4.
IRELAND Squad 2018 Guinness Series & The Rugby Weekend:
Player/Club/Province/Caps -
Forwards (24):
Rory Best (Banbridge/Ulster) 111 (c)
Finlay Bealham (Buccaneers/Connacht) 7
Tadhg Beirne (Munster) 2
Jack Conan (Old Belvedere/Leinster) 9
Sean Cronin (St. Mary's College/Leinster) 62
Tadhg Furlong (Clontarf/Leinster) 26
Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster) 81
Iain Henderson (Ballynahinch/Ulster) 39
Rob Herring (Ballynahinch/Ulster) 6
Dave Kilcoyne (UL Bohemians/Munster) 22
Dan Leavy (UCD/Leinster) 10
Jack McGrath (St. Mary's College/Leinster) 50
Jordi Murphy (Ulster) 23
Sean O’Brien (UCD/Leinster) 51
Peter O'Mahony (Cork Constitution/Munster) 50 (vc)
Andrew Porter (UCD/Leinster) 8
Quinn Roux (Galwegians/Connacht) 6
Rhys Ruddock (St Mary’s College/Leinster) 19
James Ryan (UCD/Leinster) 11
John Ryan (Cork Constitution/Munster) 15
Niall Scannell (Dolphin/Munster) 9
CJ Stander (Shannon/Munster) 26
Devin Toner (Lansdowne/Leinster) 60
Josh van der Flier (UCD/Leinster) 10
Backs (18):
Will Addison (Enniskillen/Ulster) *
Bundee Aki (Galwegians/Connacht) 9
Sam Arnold (Garryowen/Munster) *
Ross Byrne (UCD/Leinster) *
Joey Carbery (Munster) 12
Andrew Conway (Garryowen/Munster) 7
John Cooney (Terenure College/Ulster) 2
Keith Earls (Young Munster/Munster) 70
Robbie Henshaw (Buccaneers/Leinster) 36
Rob Kearney (UCD/Leinster) 86
Jordan Larmour (St. Mary's College/Leinster) 6
Kieran Marmion (Corinthians/Connacht) 22
Stuart McCloskey (Bangor/Ulster) 2
Luke McGrath (UCD/Leinster) 6
Garry Ringrose (UCD/Leinster) 14
Jonathan Sexton (St. Mary's College/Leinster) 76 (vc)
Jacob Stockdale (Ballynahinch/Ulster) 11
Darren Sweetnam (Cork Constitution/Munster) 2
* Denotes uncapped player
Fixtures
The Rugby Weekend
IRELAND v Italy, Soldier Field, Chicago, USA KO 15.00hrs (21.00hrs Irish Time)
Saturday 3rd November, 2018
2018 Guinness Series
IRELAND v Argentina, Aviva Stadium, Dublin, IRELAND KO 18.30hrs
Saturday 10th November, 2018
IRELAND v New Zealand, Aviva Stadium, Dublin IRELAND KO 19.00hrs
Saturday 17th November, 2018
IRELAND v USA, Aviva Stadium, Dublin IRELAND KO 18.30hrs
Saturday 24th November, 2018
