Emerging Ireland is an Irish international

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

team that represents

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

in selected matches, tours and competitions. Composed of Ireland qualified players only, mostly uncapped or at the beginning of their careers, it forms part of the development pathway to the senior Ireland team. It is not to be confused with the

Ireland Wolfhounds The Ireland Wolfhounds (also known as Ireland A and Ireland B) are the second national rugby union team of Ireland, behind the Ireland national team. History The Wolfounds previously competed in the Churchill Cup together with the England Sax ...

, the national 'A' team which occasionally competes and is a level below the national side but with no age restrictions, nor with the Elite U-20 team with strict age limits that competes in the Under-20 Six Nations and Rugby World Cup. As of 2024, Emerging Ireland had undertaken five tours for a total of 15 matches. Their record over those matches was 14 games won, and a single defeat against a South African Presidents XV in 2013.

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 ( ), ( ka, ტფილისი, tr ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia ( ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

. 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 played for Leinster Rugby, Leinster and Ireland national rugby union team, Ireland. He plays in the backrow, at 6 or 8. In the 2009/2010 season, he captained the Irish ...

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 beat Emerging Ireland 19–8, before Emerging Ireland beat

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of 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 the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

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,

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 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

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 St ...

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

Dan McFarland Dan McFarland (born 10 April 1972) is an English rugby union coach and former player. He was head coach of Ulster Rugby from 2018 to 2024. He played loosehead prop for Richmond, Stade Français and Connacht, retiring in 2006. He was forwards co ...

Connacht Connacht or Connaught ( ; or ), is the smallest of the four provinces of Ireland, situated in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms (Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine, C ...

assistant coach at the time, was appointed as head coach and

Ulster Ulster (; or ; or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional or historic provinces of Ireland, Irish provinces. It is made up of nine Counties of Ireland, counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kingdom); t ...

backs coach,

Neil Doak Neil George Doak (born 21 June 1972) is a Northern Irish former cricketer and rugby union player. He is currently head coach of the Ireland U20 rugby union team. He has served as attack and backs coach with English club side Worcester Warrior ...

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. 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

After a significant haitus, Emerging Ireland re-emerged, but with a different purpose, providing development opportunities for young senior players in international conditions,

Simon Easterby Simon Easterby (born 21 July 1975) is a professional rugby union coach and former player. He is currently the interim head coach for the Ireland national team. Early life Easterby's father is English and his mother Irish, so had Irish citizens ...

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. They won 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 and the fastest land animal. It has a tawny to creamy white or pale buff fur that is marked with evenly spaced, solid black spots. The head is small and rounded, with a short snout and blac ...

2024 South Africa Tour

Emerging Ireland returned to South Africa in October 2024 for a three match tour against the Pumas, Western Force and the Cheetahs. They started their tour with a 36-24 victory over the Pumas in

Bloemfontein Bloemfontein ( ; ), also known as Bloem, is the capital and the largest city of the Free State (province), Free State province in South Africa. It is often, and has been traditionally, referred to as the country's "judicial capital", alongsi ...

. Ireland beat the Western Force 29–24 in its second match of the tour. Emerging Ireland secured their second

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 2021, f ...

crown with a 24–33 victory over the Cheetahs going three for three on their South Africa tour.

Statistics

Overall

''Up to date as of 9 October 2024''

Honours

**''Winners'': 2 (

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

) *

World Rugby 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 St ...

**''Winners'': 1 (

) * World Rugby Tbilisi Cup **''Winners'': 1 (

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

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

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

)

Current squad

Emerging Ireland 35-man squad for the

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 Champio ...

. Head Coach:

Head coaches and statistics

:''Correct as of 9 October 2024''

References

{{IRB Tbilisi Cup Emerging