Rugby

Ulster octet set for South Africa

Ulster's Sean Reidy has been rewarded for his good form with a call into the Ireland squad for their tour of South Africa. Picture by Hugh Russell
Ulster's Sean Reidy has been rewarded for his good form with a call into the Ireland squad for their tour of South Africa. Picture by Hugh Russell Ulster's Sean Reidy has been rewarded for his good form with a call into the Ireland squad for their tour of South Africa. Picture by Hugh Russell

ULSTER will have an octet of players on Ireland’s tour of South Africa, including the uncapped Sean Reidy, but Stuart McCloskey will not travel.

Captain Rory Best and Iain Henderson – who missed the Six Nations through injury – are included alongside Reidy in a forward division that also contains Connacht’s South African-born second row Quinn Roux.

Auckland-born Reidy has impressed for Ulster in the back row all season and qualifies for Ireland through his grandfather, who is from Kerry.

Paddy Jackson will travel as the second-choice fly-half in a squad that doesn’t contain Bordeaux-bound Ian Madigan.

Luke Marshall and Stuart Olding are the notable inclusions in an otherwise familiar backline that has no place for McCloskey or Craig Gilroy, but does see Andrew Trimble travel.

There is no place for another of Ireland’s bright young centres Garry Ringrose. He and McCloskey will both stay at home despite being available to travel.

Ulster flanker Chris Henry is also left out of the 32-man squad.

Joe Schmidt has to deal with the enforced absence of nine players, including Ulster winger Tommy Bowe, who suffered a setback in his recovery from a serious knee injury and missed the province’s end-of-season games.

Leinster flanker Sean O’Brien is set to undergo surgery for a hamstring injury that has plagued him since the World Cup last autumn, while clubmates Cian Healy (knee) and Josh van der Flier (ankle) are also out.

Denis Buckley, Nathan White, Peter O’Mahony, Andrew Conway and Simon Zebo are all unavailable, while the unfortunate Tommy O’Donnell misses out.

Ireland Head Coach Schmidt, over whose future questions remain with his contract due to expire next summer, said: "Touring South Africa will be arduous to say the least so we've attempted to prioritise players who are currently as close to full fitness as possible.

“In what is always a difficult balancing act, we've taken a long term view with a number of players who need a rest or will benefit from a full pre-season.”

The squad will depart for South Africa on Sunday 5th June and will be based in Cape Town ahead of the first Test at the DHL Newlands Stadium before moving to Johannesburg for the second Test at Emirates Airline Park.

The third and final Test will take place in Port Elizabeth at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium. All three Tests will be broadcast live on Sky Sports.

They travel with more on the line than for a standard summer tour. Ireland currently sit seventh in the World rankings, just ahead of France and Scotland.

A winless tour could potentially see them knocked out of the top eight. The draw for the pool stages of the World Cup takes place in May 2017, with the top eight teams given first and second seeding.

Ireland squad

Forwards: Finlay Bealham, Rory Best, Sean Cronin, Tadhg Furlong, Jack McGrath, Mike Ross, Richardt Strauss, Ultan Dillane, Iain Henderson, Quinn Roux, Devin Toner, Donnacha Ryan, Jamie Heaslip, David Kilcoyne, Jordi Murphy, Sean Reidy, Rhys Ruddock, CJ Stander

Backs: Paddy Jackson, Jonathan Sexton, Keith Earls, Luke Fitzgerald, Robbie Henshaw, Dave Kearney, Rob Kearney, Luke Marshall, Stuart Olding, Jared Payne, Andrew Trimble