THREE POTENTIAL NEW caps for Ireland and yet it probably would have been only two were it not for Andrew Porter’s injury.
That’s hardly a knock on Billy Bohan, whose superb breakout season with Connacht was rewarded in any case by a Six Nations call-up, but more a nod to this being a very Andy Farrell-type squad, laced with experience and selected with a refusal to compromise results while seeking development.
The notion that an already-proven entity such as Porter would have been rested for the summer is disabused by Farrell’s inclusion of the likes of Tadhgs Beirne and Furlong, each of them longer in the tooth and only recently injured.
While Sean Jansen and Sam Illo, like Bohan, will eye Test debuts, 30 other players included in this squad featured in the Six Nations, the exceptions being Hugo Keenan, Robbie Henshaw (both injured) and Jimmy O’Brien, who boast 141 Ireland caps between them.
Connacht loosehead Billy Bohan. James Crombie / INPHO
James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO
The overwhelming sense is that Ireland’s summer window is facing directly towards Eden Park in Auckland, where Farrell’s side will play the All Blacks on Saturday, 18 July, having already faced Australia (4 July) and Japan (11 July) Down Under.
The 2022 summer tour of New Zealand was long earmarked as a key stepping stone towards the following year’s World Cup. While Ireland were ultimately edged by the All Blacks in an all-time great quarter-final in Paris, their landmark series victory on Kiwi soil — the first by any visiting nation since 1994 — was clearly propulsive; Ireland’s form as far as that last-eight defeat in 2023, and even much of their performance within those unforgettable 80 minutes, was plainly excellent.
In Auckland this July dangles a similar carrot: New Zealand are famously unbeaten in their last 52 Tests at Eden Park, their last defeat at the venue delivered by previous series winners France 32 years ago. While rugby union may not quite be a religion to Kiwis to the extent that it once was, the All Blacks’ record at ‘The Fortress’ remains a matter of great national pride.
It might feel fanciful to believe that this Ireland team is equipped to bring an end to Eden Park lore — the All Blacks have been superior to Farrell’s side to the tune of double-digit scores in their last two meetings, and have won all of the last three — but that’s precisely why Farrell will fancy it. Easily forgotten is that a series victory in 2022, even against Ian Foster’s clearly vulnerable All Blacks team, felt a quixotic task — not least after Ireland’s 42-19 defeat in the first Test. You’ll probably recall where that particular game was played…
Advertisement
Jordie Barrett challenging Robbie Henshaw for a loose ball at Eden Park in 2022. Photosport / Andrew Cornaga/INPHO
Photosport / Andrew Cornaga/INPHO / Andrew Cornaga/INPHO
It’s not inconceivable that Ireland make a slow start to their campaign once more. It’s become a frustrating habit of theirs over the last couple of years: they underperformed and lost the first Test in South Africa in the summer of 2024, going on to lose their first November Test to New Zealand that same year; they squeaked past a poor England side in their 2025 Six Nations opener, and lost again to New Zealand in their November opener; their performance in defeat by France in this year’s Six Nations curtain-raiser, meanwhile, led Farrell to openly question the “intent” of his players.
As such, Australia will equally view their Nations Cup opener against Ireland as a chance to lay down a marker ahead of their home World Cup just over a year later. While its capacity is only 42,500, Sydney’s Allianz Stadium is long since sold out for that 4 July clash, an indication that the Wallabies have retained plenty of public goodwill from their admirable efforts against the Lions last summer — even if they tailed off in the back half of what must have been a mentally draining year.
And while Farrell won’t tolerate another off-colour Ireland performance in a campaign opener, the inclusion of such seasoned campaigners as Beirne, Furlong, and Bundee Aki suggests that victory at Eden Park — unlikely as it may seem now — is the ultimate goal for the summer.
And yet, for all of the experience in their travelling party, Ireland will have to carve out that slice of history without three of their most influential players: the aforementioned Porter, out-half Jack Crowley, and wing James Lowe, all three of whom might well have started against the All Blacks in Farrell’s preferred XV.
While Porter’s injury is compounded by the loss of his Leinster understudy-turned-competitor, Paddy McCarthy, Crowley’s absence feels especially pronounced considering the form of the options beneath him in the depth chart currently.
Sam Prendergast, back in the saddle for Leinster, is on the upward curve again, certainly, but it’s a gradual curve — as is frankly acceptable at the end of a turbulent season for the 23-year-old. With a URC final against the Bulls to come, Prendergast is clearly in the driving seat. Harry Byrne’s performances in Leinster’s Champions Cup semi-final and final will invite discourse about his big-game temperament — and yet his national-team head coach will recognise that Byrne is a young 27-year-old in that he has actually started very few ‘big’ games.
Perhaps it will happen only against Japan, but it would be quite like Farrell to hand the reins to Ciarán Frawley, whose impending departure from Leinster to Connacht has seen him cast aside for the eastern province’s URC play-off run as they seek to expose Prendergast and Byrne to more knockout minutes.
Frawley will compete for Connacht’s out-half shirt next season, when all conjecture about his ability in the position will end one way or the other, but Farrell has ostensibly viewed him as a 10 for longer than his native province, and he may even see the 28-year-old as the form option in Crowley’s absence.
Incidentally, Skerries man Frawley was born in Sydney, to where Ireland will fly on Monday ahead of their opening Nations Cup Test against the Wallabies next month.
Stranger things have happened. And with a visit to Eden Park further down the line, that might become the theme of Ireland’s summer.
Ireland squad
Forwards (20):
Tadhg Beirne
Billy Bohan
Thomas Clarkson
Jack Conan
Caelan Doris
Tadhg Furlong
Sam Illo
Cormac Izuchukwu
Sean Jansen
Rónan Kelleher
Jeremy Loughman
Joe McCarthy
Darragh Murray
Tom O’Toole
Cian Prendergast
James Ryan
Dan Sheehan
Tom Stewart
Nick Timoney
Josh van der Flier
Backs (16):
Bundee Aki
Rob Baloucoune
Harry Byrne
Craig Casey
Nathan Doak
Ciaran Frawley
Jamison Gibson-Park
Robbie Henshaw
Hugo Keenan
Stuart McCloskey
Jimmy O’Brien
Tommy O’Brien
Jamie Osborne
Sam Prendergast
Garry Ringrose
Jacob Stockdale
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Close
10 Comments
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic.
Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy
here
before taking part.
All roads feel like they lead towards Eden Park as Farrell selects another tried and tested squad
THREE POTENTIAL NEW caps for Ireland and yet it probably would have been only two were it not for Andrew Porter’s injury.
That’s hardly a knock on Billy Bohan, whose superb breakout season with Connacht was rewarded in any case by a Six Nations call-up, but more a nod to this being a very Andy Farrell-type squad, laced with experience and selected with a refusal to compromise results while seeking development.
The notion that an already-proven entity such as Porter would have been rested for the summer is disabused by Farrell’s inclusion of the likes of Tadhgs Beirne and Furlong, each of them longer in the tooth and only recently injured.
While Sean Jansen and Sam Illo, like Bohan, will eye Test debuts, 30 other players included in this squad featured in the Six Nations, the exceptions being Hugo Keenan, Robbie Henshaw (both injured) and Jimmy O’Brien, who boast 141 Ireland caps between them.
The overwhelming sense is that Ireland’s summer window is facing directly towards Eden Park in Auckland, where Farrell’s side will play the All Blacks on Saturday, 18 July, having already faced Australia (4 July) and Japan (11 July) Down Under.
The 2022 summer tour of New Zealand was long earmarked as a key stepping stone towards the following year’s World Cup. While Ireland were ultimately edged by the All Blacks in an all-time great quarter-final in Paris, their landmark series victory on Kiwi soil — the first by any visiting nation since 1994 — was clearly propulsive; Ireland’s form as far as that last-eight defeat in 2023, and even much of their performance within those unforgettable 80 minutes, was plainly excellent.
In Auckland this July dangles a similar carrot: New Zealand are famously unbeaten in their last 52 Tests at Eden Park, their last defeat at the venue delivered by previous series winners France 32 years ago. While rugby union may not quite be a religion to Kiwis to the extent that it once was, the All Blacks’ record at ‘The Fortress’ remains a matter of great national pride.
It might feel fanciful to believe that this Ireland team is equipped to bring an end to Eden Park lore — the All Blacks have been superior to Farrell’s side to the tune of double-digit scores in their last two meetings, and have won all of the last three — but that’s precisely why Farrell will fancy it. Easily forgotten is that a series victory in 2022, even against Ian Foster’s clearly vulnerable All Blacks team, felt a quixotic task — not least after Ireland’s 42-19 defeat in the first Test. You’ll probably recall where that particular game was played…
It’s not inconceivable that Ireland make a slow start to their campaign once more. It’s become a frustrating habit of theirs over the last couple of years: they underperformed and lost the first Test in South Africa in the summer of 2024, going on to lose their first November Test to New Zealand that same year; they squeaked past a poor England side in their 2025 Six Nations opener, and lost again to New Zealand in their November opener; their performance in defeat by France in this year’s Six Nations curtain-raiser, meanwhile, led Farrell to openly question the “intent” of his players.
As such, Australia will equally view their Nations Cup opener against Ireland as a chance to lay down a marker ahead of their home World Cup just over a year later. While its capacity is only 42,500, Sydney’s Allianz Stadium is long since sold out for that 4 July clash, an indication that the Wallabies have retained plenty of public goodwill from their admirable efforts against the Lions last summer — even if they tailed off in the back half of what must have been a mentally draining year.
And while Farrell won’t tolerate another off-colour Ireland performance in a campaign opener, the inclusion of such seasoned campaigners as Beirne, Furlong, and Bundee Aki suggests that victory at Eden Park — unlikely as it may seem now — is the ultimate goal for the summer.
And yet, for all of the experience in their travelling party, Ireland will have to carve out that slice of history without three of their most influential players: the aforementioned Porter, out-half Jack Crowley, and wing James Lowe, all three of whom might well have started against the All Blacks in Farrell’s preferred XV.
While Porter’s injury is compounded by the loss of his Leinster understudy-turned-competitor, Paddy McCarthy, Crowley’s absence feels especially pronounced considering the form of the options beneath him in the depth chart currently.
Sam Prendergast, back in the saddle for Leinster, is on the upward curve again, certainly, but it’s a gradual curve — as is frankly acceptable at the end of a turbulent season for the 23-year-old. With a URC final against the Bulls to come, Prendergast is clearly in the driving seat. Harry Byrne’s performances in Leinster’s Champions Cup semi-final and final will invite discourse about his big-game temperament — and yet his national-team head coach will recognise that Byrne is a young 27-year-old in that he has actually started very few ‘big’ games.
Perhaps it will happen only against Japan, but it would be quite like Farrell to hand the reins to Ciarán Frawley, whose impending departure from Leinster to Connacht has seen him cast aside for the eastern province’s URC play-off run as they seek to expose Prendergast and Byrne to more knockout minutes.
Frawley will compete for Connacht’s out-half shirt next season, when all conjecture about his ability in the position will end one way or the other, but Farrell has ostensibly viewed him as a 10 for longer than his native province, and he may even see the 28-year-old as the form option in Crowley’s absence.
Incidentally, Skerries man Frawley was born in Sydney, to where Ireland will fly on Monday ahead of their opening Nations Cup Test against the Wallabies next month.
Stranger things have happened. And with a visit to Eden Park further down the line, that might become the theme of Ireland’s summer.
Ireland squad
Forwards (20):
Tadhg Beirne
Billy Bohan
Thomas Clarkson
Jack Conan
Caelan Doris
Tadhg Furlong
Sam Illo
Cormac Izuchukwu
Sean Jansen
Rónan Kelleher
Jeremy Loughman
Joe McCarthy
Darragh Murray
Tom O’Toole
Cian Prendergast
James Ryan
Dan Sheehan
Tom Stewart
Nick Timoney
Josh van der Flier
Backs (16):
Bundee Aki
Rob Baloucoune
Harry Byrne
Craig Casey
Nathan Doak
Ciaran Frawley
Jamison Gibson-Park
Robbie Henshaw
Hugo Keenan
Stuart McCloskey
Jimmy O’Brien
Tommy O’Brien
Jamie Osborne
Sam Prendergast
Garry Ringrose
Jacob Stockdale
Ireland Fixtures – Nations Championship Southern Hemisphere Series:
Saturday, 4 July: Australia v Ireland, Allianz Stadium, Sydney, 8:10pm local time/11:10am Irish time
Saturday, 11 July: Japan v Ireland, McDonald Jones Stadium, Newcastle, 8:10pm local time/11:10am Irish time
Saturday, 18 July: New Zealand v Ireland, Eden Park, Auckland, 7:10pm local time/8:10am Irish time
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Nations Cup Rugby