Andy Farrell Jacob Stockdale Craig Casey Donal Lenihan Ciarán Frawley South Africa Ireland New Zealand Fiji All Blacks Sport Rugby Andy Farrell Jacob Stockdale Craig Casey Donal Lenihan Ciarán Frawley South Africa Ireland New Zealand Fiji

Lenihan: Big chance for 'A' players to stake claim

rte.ie

Donal Lenihan says Ireland's rising talents and fringe stars must put their hand up against a strong All Blacks XV at the RDS tonight with the clock ticking for World Cup selection.Munster scrum-half Craig Casey captains an Ireland side that will contain seven uncapped players, including Ciáran Frawley, who is named at out-half.Andy Farrell will be watching closely; his team face South Africa in an intriguing Autumn International on Saturday, but tonight's game against New Zealand's back-up team represents a massive chance for Irish men to force their way into his thoughts for next week's clash with Fiji."It's a fascinating weekend of rugby," Lenihan told RTÉ s Morning Ireland."A lot of the players who are featuring for the Ireland A side tonight would have been down in South Africa for that Emerging Ireland side and made good impressions down there."We're now less than 11 months to the World Cup so the countdown really has started in terms of generating the last few places in that squad.

There's a lot of talk about who is going to back up Johnny Sexton in the World Cup and Ciaran Frawley is handed the No 10 jersey for tonight."He's played most of his rugby in the centre for Leinster, he actually played at full-back a couple of weeks ago, so that versatility will be huge for him.

But he hasn't had that many outings at ten so the focus will be on him."It's not just the young guns who will be desperate to turn Farrell's head.It's a chance too for others who have fallen down the pecking order, while the All Blacks are also packed with quality players aiming to prove a point."You look at Jacob Stockdale who was the star of the Ireland Grand Slam side of 2018," Lenihan added."Injury has wreaked havoc on his career really so

Related News
Ireland's ability to grind out wins is a crucial takeaway from this month's Autumn Nations Series according to Bernard Jackman and Mick Kearney.
Munster look set to be close to full-strength for Saturday's BKT United Rugby Championship meeting with Connacht, with Peter O'Mahony, Tadhg Beirne, Craig Casey and Jack Crowley all available for selection.
Munster have been handed a fitness boost ahead of this Saturday's BKT United Rugby Championship meeting with Connacht, with Keith Earls among several first-team players who have returned to training.
Certain statistics can be interpreted a number of different ways, depending on how full or empty your glass is.
DUBLIN : Losing captain Johnny Sexton to injury shortly before Saturday's 13-10 victory over Australia was a blessing in disguise for Ireland as they tested their squad depth and resolve ahead of next year's World Cup, coach Andy Farrell said.
Donal Lenihan believes Ireland will get the better of Australia in their Test on Saturday but that it will be "more competitive than people realise".

Latest News

Change privacy settings
This page might use cookies if your analytics vendor requires them.