Emerging Ireland

Emerging Ireland
Union Irish Rugby Football Union
Emblem(s) Shamrock
Founded 2013
Coach(es) Dan McFarland
Captain(s) Mike McCarthy
Team kit
First international
 Georgia 15–20 E. Ireland Ireland
(7 June 2013)
Largest win
Ireland E. Ireland 66–0  Russia
(13 June 2014)
Largest defeat
Ireland E. Ireland 8–19 South Africa South Africa
(11 June 2013)

Emerging Ireland is an Irish rugby union team that represents Ireland in the IRB Nations Cup. The team will act as Ireland's third national men's side, behind the senior Ireland team and Ireland Wolfhounds.

Statistics

Overall

Against Played Won Drawn Lost For Against % Won
 Georgia 1 1 0 0 20 15 100.00%
 Russia 1 1 0 0 66 0 100.00%
SA Pres. XV 1 0 0 1 8 19 0.00%
 Uruguay 2 2 0 0 93 36 100.00%
 Romania 1 1 0 0 31 10 100.00%
Total 6 5 0 1 218 80 83.33%
Tournament Coach(es) Captain Games
Played Won Drawn Lost PF PA
2013 IRB Tbilisi Cup Allen Clarke
Ian Costello
Joey Miles
Rhys Ruddock 3 2 0 1 70 67
2014 IRB Nations Cup Dan McFarland Dominic Ryan
(for Mike McCarthy)
3 3 0 0 148 13

History

2013 Tbilisi Cup

The team was created to offer Tier 1 level opposition for Tier 2 sides in the IRB Tbilisi Cup, held in Tbilisi, Georgia.[1][2] Allen Clarke, Ian Costello and Joey Miles managed the team, with Rhys Ruddock as captain.[3]

In Emerging Ireland's opening match, they faced hosts Georgia. This match was won by the Emerging side 20-15 in their first ever game.[4] In their second match, South Africa President's XV beat Emerging Ireland 19-8,[5] before Emerging Ireland beat Uruguay 42-33 on 16 June 2013 to secure a second-place finish in the tournament.[6]

The squad for the tournament was named on 19 May 2013.[7] The initial squad featured four internationally capped players; Michael Bent, Sean Cronin, Ian Keatley and Rhys Ruddock the captain. However, Cronin was called up to the senior squad on 26 May 2013, thus lowering the international players from four to three. The remaining twenty three player, had, at the time, not played for Ireland internationally or at test level.

2014 IRB Nations Cup

On 1 April 2014, it was announced that Emerging Ireland would take part in the 2014 edition of the IRB Nations Cup in Bucharest, Romania. Dan McFarland, Connacht assistant coach, has been appointed as head coach and Ulster backs coach, Neil Doak, will assist him.[8]

In the first game of the cup Emerging Ireland beat Russia by a score of 66-0 at 45 minutes into the game, when it was stopped by the referee, Ian Davies, because of a storm and fears for the players safety. The match included 10 tries,3 of those from Andrew Conway. This was Emerging Ireland's largest ever win in international rugby.Dan McFarland's side beat Uruguay 51-3 in their second game to set up the last game against Romania as a title decider. This game turned out to be the closest of all their games but Emerging Ireland still ran out at 31-10 winners to secure the IRB nations cup with 3 bonus point victories.[9][10]

Honours

Current squad

Emerging Ireland 26-man squad for the 2014 IRB Nations Cup was announced on 26 May 2014.

On 1 June, Rodney Ah You and Noel Reid withdrew from the squad due to call-ups to the Irish national side.[11] Ah You and Reid were replaced by Ricky Lutton and Stuart McCloskey.

Captain Mike McCarthy withdrew from the squad on 3 June due to injury. He was replaced by Billy Holland, and Dominic Ryan will take over the captaincy.[12]

Head Coach: Dan McFarland

Players that had represented Emerging Ireland previously are in Bold.
Note: Flags indicate national union for the club/province as defined by World Rugby.

Player Position Date of Birth (Age) Caps Club/province
Niall Annett Hooker 7 May 1991 0 Ireland Ulster
Bryan Byrne Hooker 9 September 1993 0 Ireland Leinster
James Tracy Hooker 2 April 1991 0 Ireland Leinster
Rodney Ah You Prop 27 October 1988 0 Ireland Connacht
Michael Bent Prop 25 April 1986 2 Ireland Leinster
Callum Black Prop 25 February 1986 0 Ireland Ulster
Ricky Lutton Prop 26 February 1986 0 Ireland Ulster
John Ryan Prop 2 August 1988 0 Ireland Munster
Dave Foley Lock 16 May 1988 0 Ireland Munster
Billy Holland Lock 3 August 1985 0 Ireland Munster
Michael Kearney Lock 29 March 1991 0 Ireland Connacht
Mike McCarthy Lock 27 November 1981 15 Ireland Leinster
Sean Dougall Flanker 28 October 1989 0 Ireland Munster
Tommy O'Donnell Flanker 21 May 1987 4 Ireland Munster
Dominic Ryan (c) Flanker 28 March 1990 0 Ireland Leinster
Paddy Butler Number 8 1 December 1990 0 Ireland Munster
Robin Copeland Number 8 23 October 1987 0 Wales Cardiff Blues
Paul Marshall Scrum-half 26 July 1985 0 Ireland Ulster
Luke McGrath Scrum-half 3 February 1993 0 Ireland Leinster
J. J. Hanrahan Fly-half 27 July 1992 0 Ireland Munster
Ian Keatley Fly-half 1 April 1987 2 Ireland Munster
Eoin Griffin Centre 18 September 1990 0 Ireland Connacht
Brendan Macken Centre 19 May 1991 0 Ireland Leinster
Stuart McCloskey Centre 0 Ireland Ulster
Noel Reid Centre 22 May 1990 0 Ireland Leinster
Michael Allen Wing 28 November 1990 0 Ireland Ulster
Andrew Conway Wing 11 July 1991 0 Ireland Munster
Johne Murphy Wing 10 November 1984 0 Ireland Munster
Craig Gilroy Fullback 11 March 1991 5 Ireland Ulster

See also

References

  1. "Georgia to host IRB Tbilisi Cup in June". irb.com. 9 April 2013. Retrieved 19 May 2013.
  2. "'Emerging Ireland' Heading To Tbilisi". irishrugby.ie. 9 April 2013. Retrieved 20 May 2013.
  3. "Coaching Team Confirmed For 'Emerging Ireland'". irishrugby.ie. 10 April 2013.
  4. "Keatley Kicks Emerging Ireland To Hard-Fought Win". irishrugby.ie. 7 June 2013. Retrieved 7 June 2013.
  5. "Emerging Ireland Suffer Tbilisi Defeat". irishrugby.ie. 11 June 2013. Retrieved 12 June 2013.
  6. "Second Place Finish For Emerging Ireland". irishrugby.ie. 16 June 2013. Retrieved 16 June 2013.
  7. "Ireland Squads Announced For Summer Tours". irishrugby.ie. 19 May 2013. Retrieved 19 May 2013.
  8. "Emerging Ireland to compete in Romania". RTÉ. 1 April 2014. Retrieved 1 April 2014.
  9. http://www.irb.com/nationscup/fixturesresults/index.html
  10. http://www.irb.com/nationscup/standings/index.html
  11. Ireland's Keith Earls and Martin Moore to miss tour of Argentina
  12. Ryan To Captain Emerging Ireland In McCarthy's Absence