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Schmidt picks eight uncapped players for Ireland's USA tour
By Russell Greaves
Joe Schmidt has thrown the gauntlet down to Ireland's youngsters after naming eight uncapped players in his 31-man squad for the tour to the United States.
With 11 Ireland players in the British and Irish Lions selection for the tour to New Zealand, Schmidt has turned to some youthful replacements.
Uncapped forward quartet Dave Heffernan, Andrew Porter, James Ryan and Kieran Treadwell have all been given the nod, joining John Cooney, Rory O'Loughlin, Rory Scannell and Jacob Stockdale, who are the newcomers in the backs department.
Ireland meet the USA before two Tests against Japan in June.
Here's the Ireland squad in full for @USARugby & @JRFURugby Summer Tour #TeamOfUs #ShoulderToShoulder pic.twitter.com/bRL6GIn2kZ
— Irish Rugby (@IrishRugby) May 16, 2017
"With 11 players due to tour with the British and Irish Lions, plus a number of injuries to experienced internationals, the summer tour squad includes plenty of youth," said Schmidt, whose side finished second at the Six Nations after denying England a Grand Slam in the final match.
"There is a real freshness to the group, including the coaching staff, so we're looking forward to what will be a very challenging summer tour.
"We have retained a sprinkling of experienced players, some of whom may yet be called up to the Lions, but the focus is really on challenging the younger players to cope with the heat and foreign conditions as well as the speed and physicality of Test rugby."
Ireland learned on Tuesday that they will begin their 2018 Six Nations campaign in France as the fixtures for the next two editions of the tournament were announced.
Ireland squad:
Forwards: Finlay Bealham, Jack Conan, Cian Healy, Dave Heffernan, Dave Kilcoyne, Dan Leavy, Tommy O'Donnell, Jack O'Donoghue, Andrew Porter, Rhys Ruddock, James Ryan, John Ryan, Niall Scannell, Devin Toner, James Tracy, Kieran Treadwell, Josh van der Flier
Backs: Joey Carbery, Andrew Conway, John Cooney, Keith Earls, Paddy Jackson, Kieran Marmion, Luke Marshall, Luke McGrath, Tiernan O'Halloran, Rory O'Loughlin, Garry Ringrose, Rory Scannell, Jacob Stockdale, Simon Zebo
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I think we need to get innovative with the new laws.
Now red cards are only 20 minutes, Razor should send Finau on a head hunting mission to hospitalise their 10 with a shoulder to the chops.
Give the conspiracy theorists a win.
Go to commentsEngland played well enough to win but couldnt score when they needed to and couldnt defend a couple of X-Factor moments from Telea which was ultimately the difference. They needed to hold the ball more and make the AB's make more tackles. Territorially they were good for the first 60. Defending their lead and playing pragmatic rugby in the last 20 was silly. The AB's always had the potential to come back. England still have a long way to go, definite progress would have been shown had they won but it seems they are still stuck where they were shortly after the six nations and their tour to NZ
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