Picking An Ireland XV To Take On USA Next Month

Joe Schmidt this week named a 31-man Ireland squad for their summer series.

The Ireland boss has decided to go with a very young looking squad, with 8 uncapped players named. This means there’s no room in his squad for the likes of veterans Rob Kearney, Donnacha Ryan, Jamie Heaslip and Sean Cronin.

Leinster’s highly rated lock James Ryan has been included despite not starting a senior game yet, while a number of exciting Connacht and Ulster talents have also been included such as Dave Heffernan and Jacob Stockdale.

Up first for Joe Schmidt’s men is a game against USA before travelling to Japan to take on their Rugby World Cup 2019 opponents in a two-game series. For us we’d imagine the USA game is perfect a bit of experimentation. A chance for the younger guys to get a feel for the Irish jersey, while getting some much needed caps for others.

Here’s an interesting team we reckon could line out.

Potential Ireland XV

1. Dave Kilcoyne
2. Dave Heffernan
3. John Ryan
4. Kieran Treadwell
5. Devin Toner
6. Dan Leavy
7. Tommy O’Donnell
8. Jack Conan
9. Luke McGrath
10. Joey Carbery
11. Rory O’Loughlin
12. Rory Scannell
13. Luke Marshall
14. Jacob Stockdale
15. Tiernan O’Halloran