ANDY FARRELL IS MAD for these games, even if he won’t be in Spain today.
This all restarted with two midweek games against the Māori All Blacks on the 2022 tour of New Zealand. The Ireland boss loved the challenge of those extra fixtures.
A few months later, the Emerging Ireland team went on a trip to South Africa and in November 2022, the Ireland A side took a hammering at the hands of the All Blacks XV in Dublin.
The situation had been that some Irish players could go years between their U20 international days and making a senior debut. The simple idea was to get them into green jerseys in that intervening period, providing another developmental step along the way.
Everyone wants to win Test caps as soon as possible, but young Irish players have spoken positively about their experiences in these development squads. They love pulling on Irish jerseys. The first Emerging Ireland trip was badly timed and the provinces were up in arms, but things have been smoothed out since.
Results have been mixed, with last season’s Ireland A defeat to England A in Bristol a particularly disappointing outing, but the return of these games has largely been welcomed by supporters too.
The first Emerging trip came up late in the day, as then-performance director David Nucifora spotted a low-cost opportunity to bring together a group of Irish players to go to South Africa, and something similar has happened with today’s fixture in Leganés [KO 4pm Irish time, RugbyPass TV].
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Martin Seras Lima / INPHO
Martin Seras Lima / INPHO / INPHO
Spain were originally supposed to play Tonga this weekend but the latter pulled out of the proposed fixture and the IRFU stepped in to give what is a promising, exciting group of players another chance to play for their country.
Spain qualified for the 2027 World Cup as they reached this year’s Rugby Europe Championship final, where they lost to Georgia. Having been disqualified from the 2023 World Cup, their qualification for the next one is even more exciting.
Pablo Bouza’s men have a busy month as they also face England A and Fiji on Spanish soil. Today is the first time a rugby match will be played at the 14,500-capacity Estadio Municipal de Butarque, home of Segunda División football club CD Leganés.
The Spanish team includes Pau tighthead Jon Zabala, Bayonne flanker Manex Ariceta, Biarritz number eight Ekain Imaz, and Colomiers wing Alberto Carmona, while Stade Français hooker Álvaro García and Toulouse playmaker Lucien Richardis are on the bench.
With the moniker of ‘Ireland XV’ this time around, the Irish side includes some real quality.
Head coach Cullie Tucker has 10 senior internationals in his team, including several who probably felt unlucky not to be in the main Ireland squad for the autumn Tests.
Loosehead prop Michael Milne, hooker and captain Tom Stewart, tighthead Tom O’Toole, lock Darragh Murray, number eight Paul Boyle, halfbacks Ben Murphy and Harry Byrne, wings Rob Baloucoune and Shayn Bolton, and fullback Mike Lowry have all been capped by Ireland before.
Irish skipper Tom Stewart. Martin Seras Lima / INPHO
Martin Seras Lima / INPHO / INPHO
Everyone else involved today has the potential to kick on to Test rugby and will be viewing this as an important stepping stone as they play in the Irish system and style.
Some might argue that this is the kind of team Ireland should be sending out against Japan today in Dublin, even if that would leave other senior squad fringe players without a chance to impress.
The fact that Tucker’s men get a chance to wear the green jersey today is positive and certainly much better than sitting at home watching Farrell’s side take on Japan.
It might not change their careers, but playing for Ireland XV against an ambitious Spain team should help a handful of these players to kick on.
SPAIN: John Wessel Bell; Martiniano Cian, Iñaki Mateu, Gonzalo López Bontempo, Alberto Carmona; Gonzalo Vinuesa, Estanislao Bay; Thierry Futeu, Santiago Ovejero, Jon Zabala (captain); Matthew Foulds, Ignacio Piñeiro; Manex Ariceta, Vicente Boronat, Ekain Imaz.
IRELAND XV: Michael Lowry; Robert Baloucoune, Jude Postlethwaite, Dan Kelly, Shayne Bolton; Harry Byrne, Ben Murphy; Michael Milne, Tom Stewart (captain), Tom O’Toole; Evan O’Connell, Darragh Murray; Alex Soroka, Ruadhán Quinn, Paul Boyle.
Replacements: Lee Barron, Alex Usanov, Scott Wilson, Diarmuid Mangan, David McCann, Nathan Doak, Cathal Forde, Zac Ward.
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Exciting Irish side take on Spain and Farrell will be watching
ANDY FARRELL IS MAD for these games, even if he won’t be in Spain today.
This all restarted with two midweek games against the Māori All Blacks on the 2022 tour of New Zealand. The Ireland boss loved the challenge of those extra fixtures.
A few months later, the Emerging Ireland team went on a trip to South Africa and in November 2022, the Ireland A side took a hammering at the hands of the All Blacks XV in Dublin.
The situation had been that some Irish players could go years between their U20 international days and making a senior debut. The simple idea was to get them into green jerseys in that intervening period, providing another developmental step along the way.
Everyone wants to win Test caps as soon as possible, but young Irish players have spoken positively about their experiences in these development squads. They love pulling on Irish jerseys. The first Emerging Ireland trip was badly timed and the provinces were up in arms, but things have been smoothed out since.
Results have been mixed, with last season’s Ireland A defeat to England A in Bristol a particularly disappointing outing, but the return of these games has largely been welcomed by supporters too.
The first Emerging trip came up late in the day, as then-performance director David Nucifora spotted a low-cost opportunity to bring together a group of Irish players to go to South Africa, and something similar has happened with today’s fixture in Leganés [KO 4pm Irish time, RugbyPass TV].
Spain were originally supposed to play Tonga this weekend but the latter pulled out of the proposed fixture and the IRFU stepped in to give what is a promising, exciting group of players another chance to play for their country.
Spain qualified for the 2027 World Cup as they reached this year’s Rugby Europe Championship final, where they lost to Georgia. Having been disqualified from the 2023 World Cup, their qualification for the next one is even more exciting.
Pablo Bouza’s men have a busy month as they also face England A and Fiji on Spanish soil. Today is the first time a rugby match will be played at the 14,500-capacity Estadio Municipal de Butarque, home of Segunda División football club CD Leganés.
The Spanish team includes Pau tighthead Jon Zabala, Bayonne flanker Manex Ariceta, Biarritz number eight Ekain Imaz, and Colomiers wing Alberto Carmona, while Stade Français hooker Álvaro García and Toulouse playmaker Lucien Richardis are on the bench.
With the moniker of ‘Ireland XV’ this time around, the Irish side includes some real quality.
Head coach Cullie Tucker has 10 senior internationals in his team, including several who probably felt unlucky not to be in the main Ireland squad for the autumn Tests.
Loosehead prop Michael Milne, hooker and captain Tom Stewart, tighthead Tom O’Toole, lock Darragh Murray, number eight Paul Boyle, halfbacks Ben Murphy and Harry Byrne, wings Rob Baloucoune and Shayn Bolton, and fullback Mike Lowry have all been capped by Ireland before.
Everyone else involved today has the potential to kick on to Test rugby and will be viewing this as an important stepping stone as they play in the Irish system and style.
Some might argue that this is the kind of team Ireland should be sending out against Japan today in Dublin, even if that would leave other senior squad fringe players without a chance to impress.
The fact that Tucker’s men get a chance to wear the green jersey today is positive and certainly much better than sitting at home watching Farrell’s side take on Japan.
It might not change their careers, but playing for Ireland XV against an ambitious Spain team should help a handful of these players to kick on.
SPAIN: John Wessel Bell; Martiniano Cian, Iñaki Mateu, Gonzalo López Bontempo, Alberto Carmona; Gonzalo Vinuesa, Estanislao Bay; Thierry Futeu, Santiago Ovejero, Jon Zabala (captain); Matthew Foulds, Ignacio Piñeiro; Manex Ariceta, Vicente Boronat, Ekain Imaz.
Replacements: Álvaro García, Raúl Calzón, Joaquín Domínguez, Imanol Urraza, Matheo Triki, Nicolás Infer, Álex Saleta, Lucien Richardis.
IRELAND XV: Michael Lowry; Robert Baloucoune, Jude Postlethwaite, Dan Kelly, Shayne Bolton; Harry Byrne, Ben Murphy; Michael Milne, Tom Stewart (captain), Tom O’Toole; Evan O’Connell, Darragh Murray; Alex Soroka, Ruadhán Quinn, Paul Boyle.
Replacements: Lee Barron, Alex Usanov, Scott Wilson, Diarmuid Mangan, David McCann, Nathan Doak, Cathal Forde, Zac Ward.
Referee: Tomás Bertazza [UAR].
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Development ireland xv Spain The Future