Geordan Murphy To Captain Ireland
15th June 2010 By Munster Rugby
Geordan Murphy will captain Ireland for the first time when he leads out the side for the second match of the summer tour against the New Zealand Maoris in their centenary fixture at Rotorua this Friday (k.o. 8.35 a.m. Irish time).
Shane Horgan comes into the side on the right wing alongside Gavin Duffy, Paddy Wallace and Johne Murphy, all of whom were involved in the game against the Barbarians at the start of the tour. Johnathan Sexton and Eoin Reddan will form the halfback partnership.
There is a new front row combination with Munster prop Marcus Horan and Tom Court on either side of John Fogarty, who won his first cap againist New Zealand last Saturday. Another debutant from that game, Dan Tuohy, will start alongside Ed O'Donoghue in the second row.
Rhys Ruddock, newly arrived to the squad after captaining the Irish U20s in Argentina, will get his first senior start for Ireland in the back row alongside Munster's Niall Ronan and another uncapped Irish player, Chris Henry.
15 – Geordan Murphy (Leicester) Captain
14 – Shane Horgan (Boyne/Leinster)
13 – Gavin Duffy (Galwegians/Connacht)
12 – Paddy Wallace (Ballymena/Ulster)
11 – Johne Murphy (Leicester)*
10 – Jonathan Sexton (St.Mary’s College/Leinster)
9 – Eoin Reddan (Lansdowne/Leinster)
1 – Marcus Horan (Shannon/Munster)
2 – John Fogarty (De la Salle Palmerston/Leinster)
3 – Tom Court (Malone/Ulster)
4 – Ed O’Donoghue (Ballymena/Ulster)*
5 – Dan Tuohy (Ballymena/Ulster)
6 – Rhys Ruddock (Blackrock College/Leinster)*
7 – Niall Ronan (Shannon/Munster)
8 – Chris Henry (Ballymena/Ulster)*
16 – Sean Cronin (Buccaneers/Connacht)
17 – John Hayes (Shannon/Munster)
18 – Donncha O’Callaghan (Cork Constitution/Munster)
19 – David Wallace (Garryowen/Munster)
20 – Peter Stringer (Shannon/Munster)
21 – Ronan O’Gara (Cork Constitution/Munster)
22 – Rob Kearney (UCD/Leinster)
