| Muldoon and Keatley selected for Ireland | |||||
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 And there could be a hat-trick of debut caps for Connacht as hooker Sean Cronin is on the bench. Four Connacht players will be involved for the clash with Canada in Vancouver with Gavin Duffy winning his ninth cap when he starts at full-back. Keatley and Cronin only joined Connacht last summer but made the step up to professional rugby with ease. Rory Best will lead an Ireland team that contains six new caps for the opening game of the Ireland summer tour. In addition to the new caps in the starting team, there are a further five possible new caps named among the replacements. The pack has an experienced foundation through the leadership of captain Rory Best and he will be accompanied in the white hot battle zone of the front row by Tom Court at loosehead who starts his first game for Ireland and Tony Buckley who starts at tighthead. Bob Casey will end a nine year gap between his last cap, which was also against Canada in 2000, when he lines out at Thunderbird Stadium in the second row with Mick O’Driscoll. The first of the new caps is in the backrow where Denis Leamy is selected at No.8 and will be joined on the flank by Connacht captain Muldoon and openside Niall Ronan. In the backline Ian Keatley will partner Irelands most capped scrumhalf Peter Stringer. Outside Keatley, Ian Whitten and Darren Cave will form an all Ulster centre combination. Munster will be supplying the wingers for the game with Barry Murphy lining out on the right wing and debutant Ian Dowling named on the left. Ireland Team: 15 - Gavin Duffy (Galwegians/Connacht) 14 - Barry Murphy (U.L. Bohemians/Munster) 13 - Darren Cave (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster)* 12 - Ian Whitten (Ballymena/Ulster)* 11 - Ian Dowling (Shannon/Munster)* 10 - Ian Keatley (Galwegians/Connacht)* 9 - Peter Stringer (Shannon/Munster) 1 - Tom Court (Malone/Ulster) 2 - Rory Best (Banbridge/Ulster) Captain 3 - Tony Buckley (Shannon/Munster) 4 - Bob Casey (London Irish) 5 - Mick O'Driscoll (Cork Constitution/Munster) 6 - John Muldoon (Galwegians/Connacht)* 7 - Niall Ronan (Shannon/Munster)* 8 - Denis Leamy (Cork Constitution/Munster) Replacements: 16 - Sean Cronin (Buccaneers/Connacht)* 17 - Mike Ross (Harlequins)* 18 - Ryan Caldwell (Dungannon/Ulster)* 19 - Donnacha Ryan (Shannon/Munster) 20 - Eoin Reddan (London Wasps) 21 - Niall O'Connor (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster)* 22 - Denis Hurley (Cork Constitution/Munster)* |
| Last Updated ( Tuesday, 19 May 2009 22:45 ) |  |
