McGrath out, but Kearney stays on

Leinster scrum half Luke McGrath is on his way home but second row Michael Kearney has been retained in the Emerging Ireland squad after both sustained concussion in the IRB Nations Cup victory over Uruguay on Wednesday.

McGrath will be replaced by Ulster’s Michael Heaney, a 23-year-old who has represented Ireland at U20 level and has 13 Ulster caps. He also has experience of this type of competition, having played in the Tbilisi tournament last year.

“We had no direct replacement for Luke at scrum-half but have a number of options in the second row from Michael,” said team manager Joey Miles.