Captain: Jamie Heaslip
Ireland have named Jamie Heaslip as captain for their opening November international against South Africa at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday.
The Leinster number eight will be leading his country for the first time when he walks the team out in Dublin as part of a side that contains one new cap in the starting team and a further three uncapped players among the replacements.
Richardt Strauss will earn his first cap for Ireland at hooker in the front-row alongside his provincial colleagues Cian Healy and Mike Ross.
Mike McCarthy is selected in the second-row alongside Donnacha Ryan, with Chris Henry selected to start at openside in the back-row, while Peter O'Mahony is selected at blindside.
In the backs, Simon Zebo will be earning his first start for Ireland at full-back, in a back three that has plenty of experience in Andrew Trimble and Tommy Bowe, who will be earning his 50th international cap for Ireland since making his debut against the USA in 2004.
Jonathan Sexton and Conor Murray are selected as the half-backs with Gordon D'Arcy and Keith Earls completing the starting line-up as the centre partnership.
Among the replacements, forwards David Kilcoyne, Michael Bent and Iain Henderson are all in line to make their international debuts should they be called into the game.
Ireland: 15 Simon Zebo, 14 Tommy Bowe, 13 Keith Earls, 12 Gordon D'Arcy, 11 Andrew Trimble, 10 Jonathan Sexton, 9 Conor Murray, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 Chris Henry, 6 Peter O'Mahony, 5 Mike McCarthy, 4 Donnacha Ryan, 3 Mike Ross, 2 Richardt Strauss, 1 Cian Healy.
Replacements: 16 Sean Cronin, 17 Dave Kilcoyne, 18 Michael Bent, 19 Donncha O'Callaghan, 20 Iain Henderson, 21 Eoin Reddan, 22 Ronan O'Gara, 23 Fergus McFadden.
Date: Saturday, November 10
Kick-off: 17:30 GMT
Venue: Aviva Stadium, Dublin
Referee: Wayne Barnes (England)
Assistant referees: Steve Walsh (Australia), Luke Pierce (England)
Television match official: Giulio De Santis (Italy)
Comments
melkdave says...
Well i see im not the only one depressed with this selection,im still wondering why P.Marshal,D.Kearney and F.Jones wherent called up ,with the other young talanted players ,when injuies started making themselves felt My 23 would be
1)Healy 2)Strauss 3)Ross 4)McCarthy 5)Tuhoy 6)Henderson 7)Henry 8)Heslip-only cuz SOB is unavailable 9)Marshal 10)Sexton 11)Earls 12)Maddigan 13)Bowe 14)Trimble 15)Jones--16)Cronin 17)Kilcoyne 18)Bent 19)Ryan 20)Jackson 21)Cave 22)Gilroy 23)Redden
Posted 19:15 08th November 2012
madraglas says...
I tell ya what lads there is some verbel diarrohea on here!!
Blood new players...put them all in and we will get thumped by more
If we face reality Ireland will always be in that 3rd-8th bracket in terms of world rugby depending on our run of form and the cohort we have to pick from in any season. Our playing pool just isn't big enough to produce enough true international players when we pick up injuried like this - hence you have to rely on players to 'do a job' hence the reliance on the O'Gara's, O'Callaghans and in the near future people will be saying the same about O'Driscoll - hopefully after the Lions though.
The mgt team will have seen more than enough of the new blood in the training camps to see who is up to it and who is'nt hence the exclusions of the Touhy's, Cave's, Marshall's etc.
At the end of the day...it gets dark!!
Good weekend for a few beers though!!
Posted 18:32 08th November 2012
jmanngod says...
what an absolute farce and disgrace that Taranaki Prop Michael Bent is playing for Ireland. What cynical manipulation of residency rules. How sad that Ireland have no rugby resources of their own and must turn to the NZ provinces for players. How soon before more teams field more Kiwis than their own players (just like Samoa these days). A 3 year residency, stand down rule is a must!
Posted 18:31 08th November 2012
pantreac says...
Is this the worst selection ever made? Zebo, can't tackle or pass- Ryan never a sec row and McCarthy unfortunately just not International standard. O'Mahoney and Murray not up to standard.
As for the subs? Kilcoyne, Bent and O'Gara just a joke!
I for one will not buy a ticket to watch Ireland while Kidney is in charge. Unfortunately the Boks by at least 40 points.
Posted 17:52 08th November 2012
rugby_rockstar says...
The undercurrent of discontent concerning Declan Kidney has erupted big time on the thread. As a neutral I see where they are coming from. Ireland dominate are european level so what is different at international level? The irish team is only picked from about 66 players and thats being generous, becasue there's a fair few over seas players playing in the three big provinces. If that small group f player can peform in europe, then why are they playing diferently for ireland. The spotlight is shining clearly on the coach. Declan needs a good autumn to keep his job. He may not lose it in december but the six nations would certainly become do or die time and the pressure will be on.
Posted 17:35 08th November 2012
liam2me says...
Houdini as captain is a shocking call. I can just see Brad Thorne laughing his ar$e off at this
Posted 17:29 08th November 2012
Cookiemunste says...
To all the sad cases cribbing about a munster bias 7 of the 21 are munster players....... that ain't exactly a bias. The only people really not deserving from munster on the team imo are murray and o Gara. Reddan and keatley/madigan/jackson can feel very hard done by. O' Callaghan is playing the rugby of his career at the moment for munster but these armchair rugby fans just show there knowledge by the endless prattling on.
Posted 17:09 08th November 2012
J_HDK says...
The only rational explanation for this squad is if DK is not bothered with this game and is preserving the real squad for the Argentina game.
But if you are not going to bring your main game against S Africa, why bother arranging it in the first place?
Until I saw the selection I was optimistic for the win, Now the best result I can see is a respectable defeat.
Posted 16:42 08th November 2012
Norm says...
McCarthy? The succession planning for an old 2nd row like Oconnell is to bring in one just as old. WTF! And the replacement on the bench will retire along with him! FFS!
Zebo will be bombarded and battered senseless!
Darcy what does he have to do to be dropped!
Heaslip, who knows maybe maybe this will encourage him to take his finger our of his hole!
On a positive, Chris Henry, stand up and take your place. Youhave the ability to stake a claim here!
Posted 16:27 08th November 2012
connaughtabu says...
I must say I am surprised that Cave and Touhy are not in the squad - as a Connaught supporter I am very happy McCarthy is included, but he ain't no Touhy. Let's see if any Irish combination can take on Kruger and Etzebeth any where on the park but especially in the lineout!
Glad to see 2 props on the Irish bench! Interesting to see if either Ross or new boy Bent can live with Tendai Mtawarira (The Beast!). Baptism by fire, Bent my boy!
The backrow could be a place for Ireland to excel, once they stop Louw on the charge. I'm not sure O'Mahony has reached test level yet, but I wish him well.
The Lambie/Sexton duel should be a cracker - Lambie is a very talented footballer and with 17 caps to his name can hardly be considered a novice.
The Irish wings are solid and won't give an inch, indeed, if given some space may take one or two! Expect both to come into the line to bring some penetration to the attack.
Dacy and Earls are going to have a long day at the office. Darcy is 4'' shorter and 12kg lighter than DeVillers, so Gordo (Leinster_Goy speak) can expect the frontal assault! Earls' exciting running style is better suited to the wing and his porous approach to defence could lead to the odd try (please God, not).
But the grand-daddy of them all must be Zebo at fullback! He finds defence difficult enough on the wing, where the player can only come at him from one side - what will he do when the quick SA boykies come at him with both flanks exposed! Can he actually catch and kick the ball?
Prediction time
¿ Irish man of match: Chris Henry for silencing Louw!
¿ SA M-o-M: The Beast of course!
¿ Result: Ire 15 South Africa 26 (hope I am wrong!!)
Its great when the Boks are in town (went to the 1970 match (8-8 draw) as a school boy and was hit on the head with old pennies thrown from outside the ground by anti-apartheid demonstrators. How things have changed!
:-))
Posted 16:17 08th November 2012
BODsGODmisspelt says...
Irishzimbabwean
Missed that, I can't believe he's still getting picked.
Can't wait to see Strauss in action and I'm delighted for McCarthy, he deserves it.
Posted 15:40 08th November 2012
highschool says...
What is the set up in the IRB / Kidney? We should be always building, bringing on new players, using the friendlies to blood new players. As the saying goes "its hard to get on the Irish Team but once on its harder to get off it" Kidney to go, bring in a tough SA coach - Mr Schmitt please step forward ...
Posted 15:33 08th November 2012
BODsGODmisspelt says...
spike19
Well said, here, here.
A bit more optimism on these pages wouldn't go a miss
Posted 15:30 08th November 2012
99call says...
With the exception of Tuohy in the second row i dont think its that bad, its not very often that any side would lose 6 1st choice players for one game but unfortunately thats what has happened so we have to make the best of it. Im just glad he hasnt started with McFadden as he shouldnt been even in the training squad never mind the matchday selection.
one minor chaange in position not personell would make this a completely different side
Put Earls on the wing and move Tommy to 13 it would give the side a totally different dynamic
Posted 15:23 08th November 2012
Dougie says...
I must say I'm sickened by the "fans" here saying that they hope Ireland lose because they didn't get the team that they wanted. I didn't realise this was a soccer team announcement.
Posted 15:22 08th November 2012
BiggyFint says...
Delighted for McCarthy. Can't believe Murray gets the nod ahead of Marshall. We look a light weight as usual in the centers and I've never seen Zebo play full back at any level. Hope to see the likes of Henderson, Kilcoyne and Bent stretch their legs. Should be interesting.
Posted 15:19 08th November 2012
gazzabok says...
Bring on the game....
Posted 15:08 08th November 2012
jmckenna92 says...
no tuohy? zebo murray d'arcy earls all playing?? wtf hope kidney gets sacked asap! disgrace
Posted 15:04 08th November 2012
Irishzimbabwean says...
griffi 60m - spot on.
Bodsgodmisspelt - look again - O'Callaghan is on the bench and Dan Tuohy out. It is a disgrace. The man has no shame about his Munster bias.
Posted 15:04 08th November 2012
whatisthis says...
I dunno, I like the fact that theres players in there that are bein given a chance. I know that the rankings matter but i think the problem with ireland is that the manager is given the task of keeping ireland in the top 8 and finishing 2nd or 3rd in the 6N. job done as far as the IRFU is concerned. this means that any manager that comes in will keep picking the same 15-20 players, therefore giving no depth when it comes to world cup time and ultimate disappointment. Ireland first 15 definitely in the top 6 in the world. 2nd 15 probably not even in the top 10.
I dnt think tuohy is better than mccarthy. yes he carries a lot of ball but hes allowed to do that because of his dominant provincial pack. Locks clear rucks first and foremost and then if there dominant enough they carry ball. i dnt see the point in tuohy standing in midfield if we cant secure ball.
the worry is midfield. DK has ruined keith earls career by making him jack of all, master of none in the back line. he will get run over. he basically is not better than any other player in their position. great sub though. rather see darren cave given a chance.
We will still get beaten though:)
Posted 15:02 08th November 2012