Only Ireland's best for trip Down Under
Leinster's Ross Byrne and Munster bound Tadhg Beirne have been included in the touring party which will be captained by Rory Best.
News: Two uncapped players in Ireland squad for Australia. Congratulations Ross Byrne @Ross__Byrne & Tadhg Beirne @longdogbeirne #TeamOfUs pic.twitter.com/dx88bhOnVJ
— Irish Rugby (@IrishRugby) May 23, 2018
Ireland Head Coach Joe Schmidt, commented, "This has probably been the most difficult selection process for the coaching group to date. We sat down on Monday morning to review the last pieces of footage and to discuss the balance and combinations that we felt we might need in Australia.
"We made the final decisions which included a number of very tough calls and some players are incredibly unlucky to miss out on selection.
"Over the past couple of months, the national coaches have spent time in the provinces and been in communication with the provincial coaches who have done a superb job in managing the players across the season.
"The coaching group are excited by the challenge that this three-Test tour will present and from talking to the players we get a sense that they too are excited about going on Tour and testing themselves against one of the best sides in the world in their own backyard," he added.
June 2010 was the last time that Ireland last played the Wallabies in Australia with the hosts winning 22-15 at the Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane. Ireland return to Suncorp for the first Test of the series on Saturday, June 9.
Ireland will play their first Test against Australia in Melbourne since 2008 where last time out the Wallabies claimed the victory 18-12. The second Test of the 2018 Tour will take place at AAMI Park on Saturday, June 16.
The final Test of the series will take place on Saturday, June 23 at the Allianz Stadium in Sydney. Australia hosted Ireland at this venue is 1994 with the Wallabies winning 32-18.
Ireland:
Forwards: Rory Best, Tadhg Beirne, Jack Conan, Sean Cronin, Tadhg Furlong, Cian Healy, Iain Henderson, Rob Herring, Dan Leavy, Jack McGrath, Jordi Murphy, Peter O'Mahony, Andrew Porter, Quinn Roux, James Ryan, John Ryan, Christiaan Johan Stander, Devin Toner
Backs: Bundee Aki, Ross Byrne, Joey Carbery, Andrew Conway, John Cooney, Keith Earls, Robbie Henshaw, Rob Kearney, Jordan Larmour, Kieran Marmion, Conor Murray, Garry Ringrose, Johnny Sexton, Jacob Stockdale
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