Ireland have named two uncapped players in their 32-man squad for the tour of Australia as the 2018 NatWest 6 Nations Grand Slam champions prepare to return to action.
Leinster’s Ross Byrne and Munster bound Tadhg Beirne have been included in the touring party for the three Test series this summer, which will be captained by Rory Best.
Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt said: “This has probably been the most difficult selection process for the coaching group to date.
“We sat down on Monday morning to review the last pieces of footage and to discuss the balance and combinations that we felt we might need in Australia.
“At midday today, we made the final decisions which included a number of very tough calls and some players are incredibly unlucky to miss out on selection.
“Over the past couple of months, the national coaches have spent time in the provinces and been in communication with the provincial coaches who have done a super job in managing the players across the season.
“The coaching group are excited by the challenge that this three Test tour will present and from talking to the players we get a sense that they too are excited about going on Tour and testing themselves against one of the best sides in the world in their own backyard.”
Ireland last played the Wallabies in their own backyard back in the summer of 2010, with the hosts winning 22-15 at the Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane.
The first Test will see Ireland return to the Suncorp Stadium on June 9, before travelling to Melbourne for the second test on June 16 and Sydney for the finale on June 23. Ireland squad for Australia tour FORWARDS (18)
Rory Best (Ulster) Captain 111 caps Tadhg Beirne (Scarlets) uncapped Jack Conan (Leinster) 7 caps Sean Cronin (Leinster) 61 caps Tadhg Furlong (Leinster) 23 caps Cian Healy (Leinster) 78 caps Iain Henderson (Ulster) 38 caps Rob Herring (Ulster) 3 caps Dan Leavy (Leinster) 9 caps Jack McGrath (Leinster) 47 caps Jordi Murphy (Leinster) 20 caps Peter O’Mahony (Munster) 47 caps Andrew Porter (Leinster) 7 caps Quinn Roux (Connacht) 5 caps James Ryan (Leinster) 8 caps John Ryan (Munster) 13 caps CJ Stander (Munster) 23 caps Devin Toner (Leinster) 58 caps
BACKS (14)
Bundee Aki (Connacht) 7 caps Ross Byrne (Leinster) uncapped Joey Carbery (Leinster) 10 caps Andrew Conway (Munster) 6 caps John Cooney (Ulster) 1 cap Keith Earls (Munster) 67 caps Robbie Henshaw (Leinster) 33 caps Rob Kearney (Leinster) 83 caps Jordan Larmour (Leinster) 3 caps Kieran Marmion (Connacht) 21 caps Conor Murray (Munster) 64 caps Garry Ringrose (Leinster) 13 caps Johnny Sexton (Leinster) 73 caps Jacob Stockdale (Ulster) 9 caps
