O’Connell and Best to miss tour Down Under

IRELAND were dealt a severe blow for the forthcoming tour of New Zealand and Australia yesterday when both Paul O’Connell and Rory Best were ruled out through injury.

Lions and Munster skipper O’Connell has been consigned to a summer of rehabilitation on a groin injury that has sidelined him since Ireland’s Triple Crown defeat by Scotland.

Ulster hooker Best, who made it back from a career-threatening neck injury for the Six Nations, has been struggling with an ankle injury and yesterday accepted the projected recovery time would not allow him to join the tour, which starts this day week.

The experienced forwards will be replaced by two uncapped players in the 33-man squad. Leinster hooker John Fogarty comes in for Best, while Ulster second row Ed O’Donoghue is named in the party to replace O’Connell. The inclusion of Fogarty and O’Donoghue brings the number of uncapped players in the squad to five.

Ireland warm up to the tour against the Barbarians in Thomond Park on Friday before flying out from Shannon the following day to prepare for a meeting with New Zealand in New Plymouth on June 12.

Coach Declan Kidney went to great lengths to ensure the original free Saturday between Test matches in New Zealand and Australia was filled and managed to secure a fixture against the NZ Maori in Rotorua for June 19.

The Maoris will, however, pose a significant threat to Ireland’s confidence on this tour, given especially that the game is part of the Maori Centenary celebrations. The final game of the tour sees Ireland play their Rugby World Cup Pool C opponents Australia in Brisbane on June 26.

Revised Ireland squad (33): T Bowe (Ospreys), T Buckley (Shannon/Munster), T Court (Malone/Ulster), S Cronin (Buccs/Connacht), G D’Arcy (Lansdowne/Leinster), K Earls (Young Munster/Munster), J Flannery (Shannon/Munster), J Fogarty (De la Salle Palmerston/Leinster)*, J Hayes (Bruff/Munster), C Healy (Clontarf/Leinster), J Heaslip (Naas/Leinster), C Henry (Ballymena/Ulster)*, M Horan (Shannon/Munster), S Horgan (Boyne/Leinster), S Jennings (St Mary’s/Leinster), R Kearney (UCD/Leinster), F McFadden (Old Belvedere/Leinster)*, K McLaughlin (St Mary’s/Leinster), J Muldoon (Galwegians/Connacht), G Murphy (Leicester), D O’Callaghan (Cork Con/Munster), M O’Driscoll (Cork Con/Munster) E O’Donoghue (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster)*, B O’Driscoll (UCD/Leinster), R O’Gara (Cork Con/Munster), T O’Leary (Dolphin/Munster), E Reddan (Lansdowne/Leinster), J Sexton (St Mary’s/Leinster), P Stringer (Shannon/Munster), A Trimble (Ballymena/Ulster), D Tuohy (Ballymena/Ulster)* D Wallace (Garryowen/Munster), P Wallace (Ballymena/Ulster).

* Denotes uncapped player.