News

Six Ulstermen In Emerging Ireland Squad

19th May 2015

Rob Herring, Stuart McCloskey, Peter Nelson, Lewis Stevenson, Frank Taggart and Andrew Wawrick have all been named in the Emerging Ireland squad that will compete in the World Rugby Tbilisi Cup in June.

Ulster Assistant Coach, Allen Clarke, will coach the panel and will be assisted by ex Ireland fullback and now Leinster Academy Coach, Girvan Dempsey. The Emerging Ireland squad will face off against Emerging Italy, Uruguay and Georgia.

Emerging Ireland Coach, Allen Clarke commented, "This competition gives us the opportunity to develop some of the emerging talent from the four provinces with the support of some experienced players in a very challenging tournament format. It's a great opportunity to see how these players react and perform faced with the challenge of a short preparation.”

Ireland Head Coach Joe Schmidt said, "There are some exciting prospects in this Emerging Ireland squad and the Tbilisi Cup is an ideal challenge for them, especially as both Georgia and Uruguay will be using this tournament to springboard their Rugby World Cup campaigns.”

Emerging Ireland will face off against Emerging Italy in their opening game of the tournament on Saturday 13^th June. Four days later they take on Uruguay with their final game coming against the host nation Georgia on Sunday 21^st June. Both Uruguay and Georgia will compete in this year's Rugby World Cup in England.

Emerging Ireland Squad

Stephen Archer (Cork Constitution/Munster)

Finlay Bealham (Corinthians/Connacht)

Denis Buckley (Corinthians/Connacht)

Andrew Conway (Garryowen/Munster)

John Cooney (Terenure/Connacht)

James Cronin (Dolphin/Munster)

Eoin Griffin (London Irish)

JJ Hanrahan (UL Bohemians/Munster)

Matt Healy (Lansdowne/Connacht)

Dave Heffernan (Buccaneers/Connacht)

Rob Herring (Ballynahinch/Ulster)