BREAKING: Bundee Aki among four uncapped players in Ireland squad
The Ireland coaching group has named a 38 player squad that includes four uncapped players for the Guinness Series 2017 which sees Ireland take on South Africa, Fiji and Argentina in the Aviva Stadium in November.
Ireland face the Springboks for the first time since the 2015 Summer Tour where they recorded a first ever victory on South African soil at Newlands but ultimately lost the series decider.
Earlier this month the Springboks came within a point of beating the All Blacks in their final game of this year's Rugby Championship having twice drawn with Australia and recorded victories home and away against the Pumas.
The Bok squad will be led by the 63 time capped lock Eben Etzebeth with their full European tour travelling party set to be named after the Currie Cup final.
Fiji come to Ireland as the reigning Pacific Nations Cup champions and have secured qualification for Rugby World Cup 2019 by virtue of being the top team in the region over the course of the past two seasons.
There are a number of familiar names within their squad such as Newcastle Falcons' Vereniki Goneva, Racing 92's Leone Nakarawa and Toulon's Josua Tuisova while Montpellier's Nemani Nadolo could also feature for the Flying Fijians.
The final game of the Guinness Series sees Ireland square off against Argentina. The two sides have not met since the Rugby World Cup quarter-final in Cardiff in October 2015.
The Pumas have recently added Mario Ledesma to their backroom team. The hooker who was capped 84 times for his country joins from the Wallabies backroom team and played under Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt at Clermont Auvergne.
Ireland Head Coach, Joe Schmidt, commented, "In what we anticipate will be an incredibly physical Guinness Series plenty will be demanded of the squad.
We have retained a core of experienced players but have also included a number of promising players that we hope will acquit themselves well."
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Marler was brilliant throughout both in the scrum and open play. His slap made virtually no contact with Ramos who milked it for a penalty when he could have been a decent sportsman and laughed it off, it was non-violent and shouldn't have been penalised. Smith failed repeatedly to kick when necessary and put up a couple of bombs into the TLS 22 that just handed back possession at key moments to the other side.
Go to commentsCros was outstanding and rightly awarded France TVs player of the match award. Mallia was brilliant as usual (the y is below the 6 on a UK keyboard and he deserves better than that). Level also seems to have been scored harshly as he walked the ball into touch under pressure from a Lynagh kick from well outside his own half which should never have led to a 50-22. Agree with BullShark that Dupont, while class at times, seemed to go missing for patches in the second half with props, hookers and wings frequently filling in at 9 as he couldn't get off the deck and up to the next ruck on time. A 7 by his standards at best, his kicking was also too long, too often. Kinghorn's overall contribution was worth well more than a five.
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