MUNSTER WINGER GREG O’Shea is in line to win his first Ireland sevens cap this weekend after being named in the squad for the second leg of the Rugby Europe Grand Prix.
After winning last weekend’s series opener in Moscow, Anthony Eddy’s side head travel to Lodz in Poland looking to build on their perfect start to the campaign.
O’Shea’s inclusion in the 12-man panel is the only change from last week with Leinster’s Jimmy O’Brien dropping out.
Bill Dardis captains the side once again and is joined by UCD team-mates Hugo Keenan and Harry McNulty, with the latter Ireland’s top try-scorer in Moscow.
Ireland have been drawn in Pool A alongside Germany, Portugal and Poland, with their first game of the weekend coming against the hosts on Saturday at 10.50am Irish time.
“We got off to a really good start last weekend in Moscow, and winning the trophy at our first ever Grand Prix event was a real positive for the Sevens Programme,” Eddy said.
“The players have been working hard over the past number of weeks in training and it was great to see them go out and perform.
“However this competition is played over four stages, so we’ve looked at areas we can improve on for this weekend and hopefully we can go to Poland and get another good result.”
The Grand Prix series offers Ireland the chance to qualify for the Sevens Rugby World Cup in San Francisco next summer, with two places on offer in the tournament.
Ireland squad:
Fionn Carr (Naas)
Jordan Conroy (Buccaneers)
Billy Dardis (UCD) Captain
Ian Fitzpatrick (Lansdowne/Leinster)
Hugo Keenan (UCD/Leinster)
Terry Kennedy (St. Mary’s College/Leinster)
Mick McGrath (Clontarf)
Harry McNulty (UCD)
John O’Donnell (Lansdowne)
Greg O’Shea (Shannon/Munster)
Mark Roche (Lansdowne)
Nick Timoney (Queen’s University Belfast/Ulster)
Ireland fixtures:
Ireland v Poland – 11.50am (local time) / 10.50am (Irish time)
Ireland v Germany – 2.13pm (local time) / 1.13pm (Irish time)
Ireland v Portugal – 4.58pm (local time) / 3.58pm (Irish time)
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