11 Munster Players In Ireland Squad

The Ireland Coaching Group have announced a 42-player squad for the upcoming sold out 2018 Guinness Series and The Rugby Weekend fixture in Chicago.

The uncapped Sammy Arnold is named in an Ireland squad for the first time with Dave Kilcoyne, Niall Scannell, John Ryan, Tadhg Beirne, vice-captain Peter O’Mahony, CJ Stander, Joey Carbery, Andrew Conway, Darren Sweetnam and Keith Earls also included.

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 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 (Lansdowne/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

Sammy 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 17thNovember, 2018

IRELAND v USA, Aviva Stadium, Dublin IRELAND KO 18.30hrs

Saturday 24th November, 2018

Next Home Game

Saturday, October 27

Guinness PRO14: Munster v Glasgow Warriors, Thomond Park, 5.15pm; Buy tickets here