Earls and Moore pull out of squad as forwards coach Plumtree quits

Joe Schmidt’s squad will land in Buenos Aires today with two more uncapped players hoping to give their Ireland Test careers a kick start against Argentina and a forwards coach set to finish his there.

Injury and illness on the eve of the two-Test series with the Pumas has denied head coach Schmidt the services of Munster back Keith Earls and Leinster tighthead prop Martin Moore, while the IRFU yesterday announced forwards coach John Plumtree will be stepping down from the position after just a year for family reasons.

Earls was ruled out due to a bout of gastroeneritis, while Moore, a second-half substitute in Leinster’s RaboDirect Pro12 final win over Glasgow on Saturday, has a fractured toe. Leinster’s Noel Reid replaces the back and Connacht’s Rodney Ah You checks in for the vacant prop vacancy.