11 Munster Players In Ireland Squad

Ireland Head Coach Joe Schmidt has named 11 Munster players in his Irish squad for the forthcoming Guinness Series and includes the uncapped Dave Foley.

Since making his long awaited Heineken Cup debut last January, impressive form in the red of Munster saw Foley feature for Emerging Ireland in their successful 2014 Nations Cup campaign and a strong start to the current season sees him included in Schmidt’s squad of 37 players.

In total the squad, captained by Munster’s Paul O’Connell, features five uncapped players. Also included are Connacht’s Darragh Leader and Nathan White, Ulster’s Jared Payne and Leinster’s Dominic Ryan.

Ireland take on Heyneke Meyer’s South Africa at the AVIVA Stadium on Saturday November 8th. The Springboks ended the All Blacks’ unbeaten run of 22 games with their victory at Ellis Park in the final game of the Rugby Championship in early October.

On Sunday November 16th, Ireland play host to Georgia who have a plethora of players plying their trade at leading French Top 14 clubs.

While the final game of the Guinness Series will take place on Saturday November 22^nd with the return of the Wallabies who recorded a victory in Dublin last November. The games against South Africa and Australia are sell-outs while there remain opportunities to secure tickets for the game against Georgia.

Players unavailable for selection due to injury include Keith Earls, Luke Fitzgerald (returning from long term injury), Cian Healy, Iain Henderson, Dave Kearney, Luke Marshall, Fergus McFadden, Martin Moore, Jordi Murphy, Sean O’Brien, Donnacha Ryan, Mike Sherry, Dan Touhy, Andrew Trimble and Damien Varley.

IRELAND 2014 Guinness Series Squad:

Forwards (21)
Stephen Archer (Cork Constitution/Munster) 2
Rodney Ah You (Corinthians/Connacht) 1
Rory Best (Banbridge/Ulster) 77
James Cronin (Dolphin/Munster) 1
Sean Cronin (St Mary’s College/Leinster) 35
Robbie Diack (Malone/Ulster) 1
Dave Foley (UL Bohemians/Munster) *
Chris Henry (Malone/Ulster) 16
Jamie Heaslip (Naas/Leinster) 67
Dave Kilcoyne (UL Bohemians/Munster) 10
Mike McCarthy (Lansdowne/Leinster) 15
Jack McGrath (St Mary’s College/Leinster) 10
Paul O’Connell (Young Munster/Munster) 94 Capt.
Tommy O’Donnell (UL Bohemians/Munster) 4
Peter O’Mahony (Cork Constitution/Munster) 23
Mike Ross (Clontarf/Leinster) 41
Rhys Ruddock (St Mary’s College/Leinster) 3
Dominic Ryan (Lansdowne/Leinster) *
Richardt Strauss (Old Wesley/Leinster) 4
Devin Toner (Lansdowne/Leinster) 17
Nathan White (Galwegians/Connacht)*

Backs (16)
Tommy Bowe (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster) 54
Gordon D’Arcy (Lansdowne/Leinster) 79
Craig Gilroy (Dungannon/Ulster) 5
Robbie Henshaw (Buccaneers/Connacht) 3
Felix Jones (Shannon/Munster) 6
Rob Kearney (UCD/Leinster) 55
Ian Keatley (Young Munster/Munster) 2
Darragh Leader (Galwegians/Connacht) *
Ian Madigan (Blackrock/Leinster) 10
Kieran Marmion (Galwegians/Connacht) 2
Conor Murray (Garryowen/Munster) 28
Stuart Olding (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster) 1
Jared Payne (Ulster) *
Eoin Reddan (Lansdowne/Leinster) 55
Johnny Sexton (Racing Metro) 45
Simon Zebo (Cork Constitution/Munster) 8

*Denotes uncapped player

2014 Guinness Series Fixtures

IRELAND v South Africa
Saturday 8th November, 2014
Aviva Stadium, K.O. 17:30

IRELAND v Georgia
Sunday 16th November, 2014
Aviva Stadium, K.O. 14:30

IRELAND v Australia
Saturday 22nd November, 2014
Aviva Stadium, K.O. 16:30