Sam Prendergast among three uncapped players but Jamison Gibson-Park to miss Ireland's South Africa tour

Neil Treacy Neil Treacy | 06-19 00:15

Ireland head coach Andy Farrell has named three uncapped players for next month's tour of South Africa, with Leinster's Sam Prendergast and Jamie Osborne, and Ulster's Cormac Izuchukwu all included in a 35-man squad.

It's a first full call-up for out-half Prendergast, who was part of the extended training panel in the lead-up to the Six Nations. The 21-year-old joins his older brother Cian in the squad, and gets included ahead of his provincial team-mate Ross Byrne.

Sam is one of three out-halves in the squad, alongside Jack Crowley and Ciarán Frawley.

Izuchukwu is the real bolter in the group, with the Ulster lock/flanker excelling in Richie Murphy's side in the second half of the season, while Osborne will be hoping to finally earn a first cap, having been involved in Ireland squads for over a year.

Izuchukwu played for Emerging Ireland back in 2022

There are several notable omissions in the group, with Jamison Gibson-Park set to miss the Test series due to a hamstring injury suffered in Leinster's BKT URC defeat to Bulls last weekend. Connacht's Caolin Blade joins scrum-halves Conor Murray and Craig Casey in the squad.

Jack Conan misses out for personal reasons, with his wife due to give birth in the coming weeks, while Mack Hansen is also going to sit out the summer. The Connacht wing hasn't played since suffering a dislocated shoulder on New Year's Day against Munster.

Peter O'Mahony once again captains the squad, which has a split of 19 forwards and 16 backs.

"I am proud to be asked to lead Ireland in South Africa, a country which provides one of the toughest challenges in world rugby," O'Mahony said.

"As reigning world champions, South Africa will provide the sternest of tests and we know that we will have to perform at a high level to get the results we want.

"There's a lot of respect and familiarity between both countries in recent years at international and club levels, since they were invited to join the URC and European Cup competitions, and we know the challenge that awaits."

The squad will assemble at the IRFU High Performance Centre in Dublin on Thursday to begin preparations for the two-match Test Series against the Springboks, before departing for Johannesburg on Tuesday, 25 June.

They take on the world champions in their first Test on Saturday 6 July in Pretoria, before heading on to Durban for the second and final Test on Saturday 13 July.


Forwards: Ryan Baird, Finlay Bealham, Tadhg Beirne, Caelan Doris, Tadhg Furlong, Cian Healy, Rob Herring, Cormac Izuchukwu, Oli Jager, Ronan Kelleher, Joe McCarthy, Peter O’Mahony (captain), Tom O'Toole, Andrew Porter, Cian Prendergast, James Ryan, Dan Sheehan, Nick Timoney, Josh van der Flier

Backs: Bundee Aki, Caolin Blade, Craig Casey, Jack Crowley, Ciaran Frawley, Robbie Henshaw, Jordan Larmour, James Lowe, Stuart McCloskey, Conor Murray, Calvin Nash, Jimmy O'Brien, Jamie Osborne, Sam Prendergast, Garry Ringrose, Jacob Stockdale

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