Muldoon is named skipper for Churchill Cup

Connacht's John Muldoon will lead the Ireland a squad into the Churchill Cup in June.

The tournament will see Ireland A play pool games against Canada and Georgia as well as a final game in the tournament playoffs.

Coach Declan Kidney said: “The three games in the Churchill Cup tournament will increase the opportunity for pitch time for players, so we felt that it would be important to bring some on the senior tour and the Churchill Cup.

"I know that players such as Keith Earls and Darren Cave benefited hugely from their Churchill Cup experience, so this will be a good opportunity for many of the players who have not been involved before.

"We will be playing Canada for the third time in 12 months with our third different team as well as playing Georgia, who we faced in the last world cup, so it will be good exposure for the players to test level rugby,” he concluded

FIXTURES.

Canada v Ireland A, Infinity Park, Wednesday, June 10.

Georgia v Ireland, Infinity Park, Sunday, June 14.

IRELAND A CHURCHILL CUP SQUAD (27):

John Andress (Exeter Chiefs) *, Neil Best (Northampton Saints), Isaac Boss (Ballymena/Ulster), Tony Buckley (Shannon/Munster), Fionn Carr (Galwegians/Connacht)*, Sean Cronin (Buccaneers/Connacht)*, James Downey (Northampton Saints) *, Dennis Fogarty (Cork Constitution/Munster)*, Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster)*, Chris Henry (Ballymena/Ulster)*, Trevor Hogan (Blackrock College/Leinster), Denis Hurley (Cork Constitution/Munster), Felix Jones (Old Belvedere/Leinster), Simon Keogh (Old Belvedere/Leinster), Keith Matthews (Buccaneers/Connacht), Fergus McFadden (UCD/Leinster), John Muldoon (Buccaneers/Connacht), Frank Murphy (Buccaneers/Connacht), John Murphy (Leicester Tigers), Sean O'Brien (Clontarf/Leinster), Niall O'Connor (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster), Ed O'Donoghue (Instonians/Ulster), Niall Ronan (Shannon/Munster), Donnacha Ryan (Shannon/Munster), Jonathan Sexton (St Mary’s College/Leinster), Devon Toner (Lansdowne/Leinster), Bryan Young (Ballymena/Ulster).