Ireland name 42 man November Test squad

The Ireland Coaching Group have announced a 42 player squad for the upcoming sold out 2018 Guinness Series and The Rugby Weekend fixture in Chicago.

Ireland will play four Test matches in November with the first fixture seeing the squad return to Chicago to participate in The Rugby Weekend at Soldier Field taking on Conor O’Shea’s Italy on Saturday 3rd November.

Argentina are Ireland’s first opponents of the 2018 Guinness Series at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday 10th November. Under the direction of Mario Ledesma Los Pumas have recently recorded victories over Australia and South Africa in the Rugby Championship.

On Saturday 17th November New Zealand return to the Aviva Stadium for the first time since claiming a hard fought victory in 2016. The final game of the Guinness Series sees Ireland host USA Rugby in what will be the Eagles first visit to the Aviva Stadium.

Continue reading below...

Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt, commented, "As always there have been a number of close calls in selection, meaning that some very good players have missed out in this particular window.

The upcoming Guinness Series offers an exciting opportunity for the squad but will also be very challenging. We are certainly looking forward to getting back to a packed Aviva Stadium with the fantastic support that we get there."

IRELAND Squad 2018 Guinness Series & The Rugby Weekend:

Player/Club/Province/Caps -

Forwards (24):

Rory Best (Banbridge/Ulster) 111 (c)

Finlay Bealham (Buccaneers/Connacht) 7

Tadhg Beirne (Munster) 2

Jack Conan (Old Belvedere/Leinster) 9

Sean Cronin (St. Mary's College/Leinster) 62

Tadhg Furlong (Clontarf/Leinster) 26

Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster) 81

Iain Henderson (Ballynahinch/Ulster) 39

Rob Herring (Ballynahinch/Ulster) 6

Dave Kilcoyne (UL Bohemians/Munster) 22

Dan Leavy (UCD/Leinster) 10

Jack McGrath (St. Mary's College/Leinster) 50

Jordi Murphy (Ulster) 23

Sean O’Brien (UCD/Leinster) 51

Peter O'Mahony (Cork Constitution/Munster) 50 (vc)

Andrew Porter (UCD/Leinster) 8

Quinn Roux (Galwegians/Connacht) 6

Rhys Ruddock (St Mary’s College/Leinster) 19

James Ryan (UCD/Leinster) 11

John Ryan (Cork Constitution/Munster) 15

Niall Scannell (Dolphin/Munster) 9

CJ Stander (Shannon/Munster) 26

Devin Toner (Lansdowne/Leinster) 60

Josh van der Flier (UCD/Leinster) 10

Backs (18):

Will Addison (Enniskillen/Ulster) *

Bundee Aki (Galwegians/Connacht) 9

Sam Arnold (Garryowen/Munster) *

Ross Byrne (UCD/Leinster) *

Joey Carbery (Munster) 12

Andrew Conway (Garryowen/Munster) 7

John Cooney (Terenure College/Ulster) 2

Keith Earls (Young Munster/Munster) 70

Robbie Henshaw (Buccaneers/Leinster) 36

Rob Kearney (UCD/Leinster) 86

Jordan Larmour (St. Mary's College/Leinster) 6

Kieran Marmion (Corinthians/Connacht) 22

Stuart McCloskey (Bangor/Ulster) 2

Luke McGrath (UCD/Leinster) 6

Garry Ringrose (UCD/Leinster) 14

Jonathan Sexton (St. Mary's College/Leinster) 76 (vc)

Jacob Stockdale (Ballynahinch/Ulster) 11

Darren Sweetnam (Cork Constitution/Munster) 2

* Denotes uncapped player