Ireland hopefuls bid to impress in Tbilisi

Tbilisi could prove the unlikely stepping stone for several players aiming to play their way into Joe Schmidt’s World Cup plans.

Emerging Ireland open the 2015 Tbilisi Cup today against Emerging Italy in the Georgian capital and while the tournament itself may have limited kudos, the repercussions could be far greater.

Billy Holland, Andrew Conway and Stephen Archer all start in a side that includes plenty of experience, captained by Rhys Ruddock, all hoping to squeeze themselves into the reckoning for the main event later this year.

Northampton-bound JJ Hanrahan is at fly-half while hooker Rob Herring and No8 Jack Conan, a late replacement for the tournament for injured Eoin McKeon, will also be looking to impress at Avchala Stadium.

Holland, promoted to the senior squad during the victorious Six Nations campaign for the clash against England, partners Connacht’s new-signing Ben Marshall.

Meanwhile his Connacht team-mate Denis Buckley has been rewarded for an impressive season in the front row that saw him named in the Guinness Pro12 Dream Team.

Allen Clarke, sharing the coaching duties with Girvan Dempsey, said: “Our purpose is two-fold. In the short term, there are a number of players who will be putting their hands up for the World Cup squad, a number of positions have been kept open, with a number of players looking to break into that squad. In the longer term, we are looking at the development of all the players against good opposition.” Ireland’s representative teams have fared well this time of year in these climbs, runners-up here in Tbilisi two years ago, after just one defeat to a South Africa President’s XV and winning the Nations Cup in Romania last year.

Clarke and Dempsey brought their squad to the Caucuses early in the week to acclimatise with games next week against World Cup qualifiers Uruguay and Georgia.

“The tournament has been very profitable in determining the future of young men into the professional ranks and indeed the senior team,” said Clarke. “We have been together for a week and the squad has gelled pretty well. The game against Emerging Italy provides an opportunity for these players to illustrate how well they have prepared and how they cope within this challenging environment.”

Cork product Rory Scannell, a goal-kicking utility back now with Dolphin, is among a replacements bench dominated by Connacht players after a season in which he made his senior Munster debut. Still, pre-tournament favourites Ireland should have too much power and tactical nouse for Emerging Italy, who have chosen to blood even more of the next generation of players from their domestic league, with the intent of looking further down the line to the World Cup in Japan 2019.

EMERGING IRELAND:

T O’Halloran (Connacht); A Conway (Munster), E Griffin (London Irish), S McCloskey (Ulster), M Healy (Connacht); JJ Hanrahan (Munster), L McGrath (Leinster); D Buckley (Connacht), R Herring (Ulster), S Archer (Munster), B Marshall (Connacht), B Holland (Munster), R Ruddock (Leinster, capt), J Conan (Leinster), D Leavy (Leinster).

Replacements:

D Heffernan (Connacht), A Warwick (Ulster), F Bealham (Connacht), A Browne (Connacht), E Masterson (Connacht), J Cooney (Connacht), R Scannell (Munster), P Nelson (Ulster).