Max Deegan to captain Ireland 'A' team for clash with England 'A'
IRELAND 'A' SQUAD: Leinster's Max Deegan to captain Ireland 'A' when they take on England 'A' next Sunday. Pic: ©INPHO/Tom Maher
Ireland 'A' Head Coach Mike Prendergast has named his 29-man squad for their clash against England 'A' at Ashton Gate on Sunday February 23 (1pm).
Leinster's Max Deegan will captain the side and is one of six players in the squad to be cappted at Test level for Ireland alongside Fineen Wycherley, Oli Jager, Tom O'Toole, Harry Byrne and Shane Daly. There are 12 players from the Emerging Ireland Tour to South Africa last September included in the squad.
Jager and Daly are joined by Munster colleagues Diarmuid Barron, Brian Gleeson, Alex Kendellen, Evan O'Connell, Fineen Wycherley and Ben O'Connor.
Leinster's Paddy McCarthy, Conor O'Tighearnaigh, Stephen Smyth, Alex Soroka, Hugh Cooney, Fintan Gunne, Tommy O'Brien and Andrew Osborne join captain Deegan and Byrne.
O'Toole is named alongside Ulster team mates Jude Postlethwaite and Zac Ward.
There are seven Connacht players included in the squad, Jack Aungier, Sean Jansen, Shayne Bolton, Cathal Forde, Hugh Gavin Darragh Murray and Ben Murphy.
The return of the A side presents players with the chance to impress. Head Coach Prendergast will be joined by Forwards Coach Jimmy Duffy, Defence Coach Sean O'Brien, Backs/Assistant Attack Coach Mark Sexton and Scrum/Breakdown Coach Colm Tucker.
The squad will assemble on Monday at the IRFU High Performance Centre and will fly to Bristol on Friday.
Looking ahead to the game Prendergast said “I am hugely excited to work with such a talented group of players and coaches and we’re all looking forward to the opportunity to represent our country in Bristol this weekend. The squad will assemble on Monday and we’ll need to hit the ground running to ensure that everyone is up to speed.
“It is an experienced group with a number of capped senior internationals named alongside players who have featured for Emerging Ireland and for their provinces in recent months. The standard, whenever you pull on an Ireland jersey, is to perform to the best of your ability and we believe that we have a good blend of talented players who will look to take this opportunity to impress the national and provincial coaches.
“Sunday’s game presents a huge opportunity against what will be a well-drilled England side who boast a lot of Premiership experience in their ranks. It is a task that we will approach with a positive frame of mind.”
The game will be streamed live on RugbyPass TV.
Jack Aungier (Connacht), Diarmuid Barron (Munster), James Culhane (Leinster), Max Deegan (Leinster)(captain), Brian Gleeson (Munster) Oli Jager (Munster)(1) Sean Jansen (Connacht) Alex Kendellen (Munster), Paddy McCarthy (Leinster), Darragh Murray (Connacht), Evan O’Connell (Munster), Conor O’Tighearnaigh (Leinster), Tom O’Toole (Ulster), Stephen Smyth (Leinster), Alex Soroka (Leinster), Fineen Wycherley (Munster).
Shayne Bolton (Connacht), Harry Byrne (Leinster), Hugh Cooney (Leinster), Shane Daly (Munster), Cathal Forde (Connacht), Hugh Gavin (Connacht), Fintan Gunne (Leinster), Ben Murphy (Connacht), Ben O’Connor (Munster), Tommy O’Brien (Leinster), Andrew Osborne (Leinster), Jude Postlethwaite (Ulster), Zac Ward (Ulster).
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