Emerging Ireland is an Irish

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the Comparison of rugby league and rugby union, two codes of ru ...

team that represents

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

in the World Rugby Nations Cup.

History

2013 Tbilisi Cup

The team was created to offer Tier 1 level opposition for Tier 2 sides in the IRB Tbilisi Cup, held in

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of approximately 1.5 million p ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to t ...

. Allen Clarke, Ian Costello and Joey Miles managed the team, with

Rhys Ruddock Rhys Ruddock (born 13 November 1990) is a professional rugby union player. He currently plays for St Mary's College RFC and Leinster. He plays in the backrow, at 6 or 8. In the 2009/2010 season, he captained the Irish U20s to winning the Six N ...

as captain. In Emerging Ireland's opening match, they faced hosts

. This match was won by the Emerging side 20–15 in their first ever game. In their second match,

South Africa President's XV The South Africa President's XV is a South African rugby union team that represented South Africa in the 2013 IRB Tbilisi Cup. They won the tournament, winning all three matches, but did not take part in the 2014 edition. Previously, an Emerging ...

beat Emerging Ireland 19–8, before Emerging Ireland beat

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

42–33 on 16 June 2013 to secure a second-place finish in the tournament. The squad for the tournament was named on 19 May 2013. The initial squad featured four internationally capped players;

Michael Bent Michael Bent (born 25 April 1986 in Hāwera, New Zealand) is a New Zealand born rugby union player who can play as a tight or loosehead prop. He played for Leinster in the Pro14 and represented Ireland at international level. He has also repr ...

Seán Cronin Seán Cronin (29 August 1922 – 9 March 2011) was a journalist and former Irish Army officer and twice Irish Republican Army chief of staff.Brian Hanley and Scott Millar, ''The Lost Revolution: The Story of the Official IRA and the Workers Pa ...

Ian Keatley Ian James T. Keatley (born 1 April 1987) is an Irish rugby union player. He plays primarily as a fly-half, but can also play as a centre or fullback. Early life Keatley was born in Dublin, where he was educated at Belvedere College and Univer ...

and

the captain. However, Cronin was called up to the senior squad on 26 May 2013, thus lowering the international players from four to three. The remaining twenty three players, had, at the time, not played for Ireland internationally or at test level.

2014 IRB Nations Cup

On 1 April 2014, it was announced that Emerging Ireland would take part in the

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

edition of the

IRB Nations Cup The Nations Cup is a rugby union competition that was first held in 2006 at Estádio Universitário in Lisbon with Argentina A, Italy A, Portugal and Russia taking part. The tournament is part of the International Rugby Board's US $50 million S ...

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north ...

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, a ...

. Dan McFarland, Connacht assistant coach at the time, was appointed as head coach and

Ulster Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label=Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kin ...

backs coach, Neil Doak was chosen to assist him. In the first game of the cup Emerging Ireland beat Russia by a score of 66–0 at 45 minutes into the game, when it was stopped by the referee, Ian Davies, because of a storm and fears for the players safety. The match included 10 tries,3 of those from

Andrew Conway Andrew Joseph Conway (born 11 July 1991) is an Irish rugby union player for Munster in the United Rugby Championship and European Rugby Champions Cup. He plays primarily as a wing, but can also play as a fullback. Blackrock College While atte ...

. This was Emerging Ireland's largest ever win in international rugby. Dan McFarland's side beat Uruguay 51–3 in their second game to set up the last game against Romania as a title decider. This game turned out to be the closest of all their games but Emerging Ireland still ran out at 31–10 winners to secure the IRB nations cup with 3 bonus point victories.

2015 Tbilisi Cup

Emerging Ireland won the 2015 Tbilisi Cup tournament with three from three victories, taking the Tbilisi Cup for their first ever time.

2022 South Africa Tour

Simon Easterby Simon Easterby (born 21 July 1975 in Harrogate, North Yorkshire) is an Irish former rugby union player. He is currently the defence coach for the Irish national team. Early life Easterby's father is English and his mother Irish. He is the yo ...

was appointed head coach of the Emerging Ireland squad for their three fixtures against South African Currie Cup sides in Autumn 2022. Ireland won their first match of the tour beating the Griquas 54–7 at

Toyota Stadium Toyota Stadium may refer to: *Toyota Stadium (Georgetown, Kentucky), home stadium of Georgetown College, United States *Toyota Stadium (Japan), an open-roof association football stadium in Toyota, Japan * Toyota Stadium (South Africa), rugby stadium ...

. They went on to win their second match of the tour with a 28–24 victory over the Pumas. Emerging Ireland completed a sweep of their tour of South Africa on 9 October with a 21–14 win over the

Cheetahs The cheetah (''Acinonyx jubatus'') is a large cat native to Africa and central Iran. It is the fastest land animal, estimated to be capable of running at with the fastest reliably recorded speeds being , and as such has evolved specialized ...

Statistics

Overall

''Up to date as of 9 October 2022''

Honours

* World Rugby Nations Cup **''Winners'': 1 (

) *

World Rugby Tbilisi Cup The World Rugby Tbilisi Cup is a rugby union competition that was first held in 2013 at Avchala Stadium in Tbilisi with the hosts Georgia joined by Uruguay, who regularly take part in the Nations Cup, and two newly founded teams: Emerging Ireland ...

**''Winners'': 1 (

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...

) **''Runners-Up'': 1 (

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment ...

)

Current squad

Emerging Ireland 35-man squad for the

Toyota Challenge The Toyota Challenge is a rugby union competition hosted in South Africa by the Cheetahs, a team sponsored by Toyota SA. The first tournament took place at the Toyota Stadium in Bloemfontein between 13 November and 26 November 2021. In 20 ...

was announced on 14 September 2022. Caps listed are those earned playing for the

Ireland national rugby union team The Ireland national rugby union team is the men's representative national team for the island of Ireland in rugby union. The team represents both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Ireland competes in the annual Six Nations Cha ...

. Head Coach:

Head coaches and statistics

:''Correct as of 5 October 2022''

References

{{IRB Tbilisi Cup Emerging