Joe Schmidt has named his 32-man Ireland squad for Australia tour as the 2018 NatWest 6 Nations Grand Slam champions prepare to return to action.
Leinster’s Ross Byrne and Munster bound Tadhg Beirne have been included in the touring party for the three Test series this summer, which will be captained by Rory Best.
News: Two uncapped players in Ireland squad for Australia. Congratulations Ross Byrne @Ross__Byrne & Tadhg Beirne @longdogbeirne #TeamOfUs pic.twitter.com/dx88bhOnVJ
— Irish Rugby (@IrishRugby) May 23, 2018
Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt said: “This has probably been the most difficult selection process for the coaching group to date.
“We sat down on Monday morning to review the last pieces of footage and to discuss the balance and combinations that we felt we might need in Australia.
“At midday today, we made the final decisions which included a number of very tough calls and some players are incredibly unlucky to miss out on selection.
“Over the past couple of months, the national coaches have spent time in the provinces and been in communication with the provincial coaches who have done a super job in managing the players across the season.
“The coaching group are excited by the challenge that this three Test tour will present and from talking to the players we get a sense that they too are excited about going on Tour and testing themselves against one of the best sides in the world in their own backyard.”
Ireland squad for Australia tour:
FORWARDS (18):
Rory Best (Ulster) Captain 111 caps
Tadhg Beirne (Scarlets) uncapped
Jack Conan (Leinster) 7 caps
Sean Cronin (Leinster) 61 caps
Tadhg Furlong (Leinster) 23 caps
Cian Healy (Leinster) 78 caps
Iain Henderson (Ulster) 38 caps
Rob Herring (Ulster) 3 caps
Dan Leavy (Leinster) 9 caps
Jack McGrath (Leinster) 47 caps
Jordi Murphy (Leinster) 20 caps
Peter O’Mahony (Munster) 47 caps
Andrew Porter (Leinster) 7 caps
Quinn Roux (Connacht) 5 caps
James Ryan (Leinster) 8 caps
John Ryan (Munster) 13 caps
CJ Stander (Munster) 23 caps
Devin Toner (Leinster) 58 caps
BACKS (14)
Bundee Aki (Connacht) 7 caps
Ross Byrne (Leinster) uncapped
Joey Carbery (Leinster) 10 caps
Andrew Conway (Munster) 6 caps
John Cooney (Ulster) 1 cap
Keith Earls (Munster) 67 caps
Robbie Henshaw (Leinster) 33 caps
Rob Kearney (Leinster) 83 caps
Jordan Larmour (Leinster) 3 caps
Kieran Marmion (Connacht) 21 caps
Conor Murray (Munster) 64 caps
Garry Ringrose (Leinster) 13 caps
Johnny Sexton (Leinster) 73 caps
Jacob Stockdale (Ulster) 9 caps