IRISH 6 nation squad announced

just henshaw

The Ireland coaching staff have announced a squad of 34 players for the forthcoming Guinness Series against Samoa, Australia and New Zealand in the Aviva Stadium this November.
The make up of the squad is consistent with recent years. The sole exile included is British and Irish Lions outhalf Johnny Sexton.
There are three uncapped players included in the squad. David Kearney who was on the bench for Ireland back in 2012, is included alongside Jack McGrath and James Coughlan.

Those unavailable through injury, including Stephen Ferris, Richardt Strauss, Tommy O'Donnell, Jordi Murphy and Simon Zebo have unfortunately been added to over the weekend with Donnacha Ryan (knee) and Iain Henderson (toe) also ruled out.

Ireland Head Coach, Joe Schmidt, commented: "The squad combines players who have shown form in the domestic season mixed with those who have a proven record at international level.

"As always there were some very difficult decisions. Some players have had limited opportunity to impress due to injury and others have performed very well and it was difficult to leave them out.

"The Guinness Series will demand plenty from the squad and I know they'll be motivated by the challenge."

The game against New Zealand is already sold out with tickets for Australia and Samoa selling fast.

Ireland Squad (Guinness Series 2013)

Backs
Isaac Boss (Terenure College/Leinster)
Tommy Bowe (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster)
Gordon D'Arcy (Lansdowne/Leinster)
Keith Earls (Young Munster/Munster)
Robbie Henshaw (Buccaneers/Connacht)
Paddy Jackson (Dungannon/Ulster)
David Kearney (Lansdowne/Leinster)*
Rob Kearney (UCD/Leinster)
Ian Madigan (Blackrock College/Leinster)
Luke Marshall (Ballymena/Ulster)
Fergus McFadden (Old Belvedere/Leinster)
Conor Murray (Garryowen/Munster)
Brian O'Driscoll (UCD/Leinster)
Eoin Reddan (Lansdowne/Leinster)
Jonathan Sexton (Racing Metro 92)

Forwards
Stephen Archer (Cork Constitution/Munster)
Rory Best (Banbridge/Ulster)
James Coughlan (Dolphin/Munster)*
Tom Court (Ulster)
Sean Cronin (St. Mary's College/Leinster)
Declan Fitzpatrick (Dungannon/Ulster)
Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster)
Jamie Heaslip (Dublin University/Leinster)
Chris Henry (Malone/Ulster)
Mike McCarthy (Leinster)
Jack McGrath (St. Mary's College/Leinster)*
Kevin McLaughlin (St. Mary's College/Leinster)
Sean O'Brien (UCD/Leinster)
Paul O'Connell (Young Munster/Munster)
Peter O'Mahony (Cork Constitution/Munster)
Mike Ross (Clontarf/Leinster)
Mike Sherry (Garryowen/Munster)
Devin Toner (Lansdowne/Leinster)
Dan Tuohy (Ballymena/Ulster)

*denotes uncapped player

Marmion can count himself very unlucky

The week before the AIs we play a very depleted Glasgow with 18 players preparing with Scotland, then a Scarlets with their dangermen missing during the AIs, then Edinburgh straight after with in all likelihood their internationals being on an enforced rest break.

We should be looking for 3 out of 3 from that, especially with only a single player in the Ireland squad. No excuses.

I think boss has been very good this season and most/all of last season so if he takes the bench spot I'm not too bothered but don't feel reddan has done much since coming back from injury to merit selection. Also a little surprised Trimble wasn't called up purely because he was given a central contract last time around, makes the cc system appear even more silly imo.

I'm amazed they didn't get cut off, talking about Connacht is a distinct no-no on that podcast.

After week one in the HEC they had a long rugby segment. 12 minutes on Munster, 12:30 on Leinster, 90 seconds on Ulster and 30 seconds on Connacht.

I can't believe people think that's a good sports show. They show only the most passing knowledge of their topics and bring no depth or anything new to the table. It passes the time, but after the uproar when they left their old jobs I thought they must be an absolute must have for any sports fan.

I heard the same show, ummm, and noted the time spent on each, and was pretty annoyed too. But hard as it may be to accept for us, I suppose it's just down to demand. It's a commercial national radio station, they have to give the listeners what they want to some degree, and I'd say the time alloted to each is probably close enough to repesentative of the proportion of supporters per province in their listenership. It still rankles, though.

Fact is, if we had won we would have received far more media coverage. The 'Connacht beaten narrowly after encouraging performance against rich opposition' story has gottten old; time to feed them a new narrative.

For what it's worth, I like the show, good buzz between presenters, interesting slots on stuff I know nothing about. But anyhoo...