Irish Echo Sport

Dad’s Army or the best we’ve got?

Ireland’s squad for the forthcoming tour of New Zealand and Australia contains very few new faces and has led to further concern about renewal in Irish rugby.

Tickets are due to go on sale today for the test match against the Wallabies in Melbourne on Saturday, June 14.

Experience is certainly not a problem as the collective squad has over 1,000 caps between them.

Skipper Brian O’Driscoll, kicker Ronan O’Gara, prop John Hayes, full back Girvan Dempsey, scrum half Peter Stringer and lock forward Malcolm O’Kelly have more than 80 caps each. At least four others have made more than 50 appearances.

Stand-in coach Michael Bradley has announced the squad for the upcoming game against the Barbarians. There are 37 players named in the initial squad due to the Munster players being unavailable for the warm-up game against the Barbarians on Tuesday, May 27.

Due to this, there are additional players added to the touring squad who will only be involved in the Barbarians selection.

Following the Barbarians game and the return of the Munster players, the squad will then be reduced to the final 30 players to travel on tour.

The additional players who were involved in the Barbarians game will then move out of the senior squad and will be included in the Ireland ‘A’ panel for the Barclays Churchill Cup tournament.

Commenting on the summer tour, interim Ireland coach Michael Bradley said: “New Zealand is undoubtedly one of the most challenging places to tour and to win Test matches and that is quickly followed up with a game against an Australian side that will have the fresh input of a new coach and are always among the top sides in the world.

“We are travelling on the tour with a strong squad conscious of the fact that IRB World Ranking points are available and that is what we are playing for.”

IRELAND SQUAD (Warm-up game against Barbarians, Tuesday, May 27/Summer tour to New Zealand and Australia, June): FORWARDS (22) - Neil Best (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster)* Rory Best (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster) Tony Buckley (Shannon/Munster) Tom Court (Malone/Ulster)* Bob Casey (London Irish)* Ryan Caldwell (Dungannon/Ulster)* Stephen Ferris (Dungannon/Ulster)* Jerry Flannery (Shannon/Munster) John Hayes (Bruff/Munster) Jamie Heaslip (Clontarf/Leinster) Marcus Horan (Shannon/Munster) Bernard Jackman (Clontarf/Leinster) Shane Jennings (St. Mary’s College/Leinster) Denis Leamy (Cork Constitution/Munster) Donncha O’Callaghan (Cork Constitution/Munster) Paul O’Connell (Young Munster/Munster) Mick O’Driscoll (Cork Constitution/Munster) Malcolm O’Kelly (St. Mary’s College/Leinster) Alan Quinlan (Shannon/Munster) Mike Ross (Harlequins)* David Wallace (Garryowen/Munster) Bryan Young (Ballymena/Ulster) BACKS (15) - Tommy Bowe (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster) Isaac Boss (Ballymena/Ulster) Ian Dowling (Shannon/Munster) Girvan Dempsey (Terenure College/Leinster) Gavin Duffy (Galwegians/Connacht) Luke Fitzgerald (Blackrock College/Leinster) Shane Horgan (Boyne/Leinster) Robert Kearney (UCD/Leinster) Geordan Murphy (Leicester) Brian O’Driscoll (UCD/Leinster) (capt) Ronan O’Gara (Cork Constitution/Munster) Eoin Reddan (Wasps) Jonathon Sexton (St. Mary’s College/Leinster)* Peter Stringer (Shannon/Munster) Paddy Wallace (Ballymena/Ulster)

* Players for Barbarians match squad but will not be travelling to New Zealand and Australia

NOT CONSIDERED DUE TO INJURY: Gordon D’Arcy (Lansdowne/Leinster) {Arm} Leo Cullen (Blackrock College/Leinster) {Shoulder} Andrew Trimble (Ballymena/Ulster) {Leg}