Munster Rugby men will look to impress against NZ Maori

MUNSTER Rugby's representatives on the Irish summer tour to New Zealand will be looking to claim a test place this Wednesday morning as the tourist play their opening game against the New Zealand Maori.

Munster's eight representatives, Loughman, O'Mahony, Beirne, Coombes, Casey, Carbery, Murray and Earls all come into the tour looking to seal their spot in the team.

Loughman will be looking for his first ever cap, while Peter O'Mahony and Gavin Coombes will be looking to force their way into a Leinster dominated pack.

Tadhg Beirne, who missed the tail end of Munster's season will be fresh and looking for game time as early as Wednesday morning.

For Craig Casey and Conor Murray, the battle is on with Gibson-Park to nail down the number 9 jersey for the test series and what a battle it promises to be.

With Johnny Sexton the number one out-half for several seasons, as well as being locked in until the World Cup, Joey Carbery also has a battle on his hands to get some game time.

In the unlikely event that Keith Earls features in four of the five games this month, he would become a centurion.

The Limerick wingers heads to the land of the long white cloud with 96 caps to date.

IRELAND 2022 SUMMER TOUR SQUAD:

Player/Club/Province/Caps –

Backs (18):

Bundee Aki (Galwegians/Connacht) 37, Harry Byrne (Lansdowne/Leinster) 2, Joey Carbery (Clontarf/Munster) 32, Craig Casey (Shannon/Munster) 5, Keith Earls (Young Munster/Munster) 96, Ciaran Frawley (Skerries/Leinster) *, Jamison Gibson Park (Leinster) 17, Mack Hansen (Connacht) 4, Robbie Henshaw (Buccaneers/Leinster) 57, James Hume (Banbridge/Ulster) 3, Hugo Keenan (UCD/Leinster) 20, Jordan Larmour (St. Mary’s College/Leinster) 30, James Lowe (Leinster) 12, Michael Lowry (Banbridge/Ulster) 1, Conor Murray (Garryowen/Munster) 96, Jimmy O’Brien (Naas/Leinster) *, Garry Ringrose (UCD/Leinster) 42, Jonathan Sexton (St. Mary’s College/Leinster) (capt) 105

Forwards (22):

Ryan Baird (Dublin University/Leinster) 8, Finlay Bealham (Buccaneers/Connacht) 23, Tadhg Beirne (Lansdowne/Munster) 30, Jack Conan (Old Belvedere/Leinster) 27, Gavin Coombes (Young Munster/Munster) 2, Caelan Doris (St. Mary’s College/Leinster) 17, Tadhg Furlong (Clontarf/Leinster) 57, Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster) 116, Dave Heffernan (Buccaneers/Connacht) 6, Iain Henderson (Academy/Ulster) 68, Rob Herring (Ballynahinch/Ulster) 26, Jeremy Loughman (Garryowen/Munster) *, Joe McCarthy (Dublin University/Leinster) *, Peter O’Mahony (Cork Constitution/Munster) 84, Tom O’Toole (Ballynahinch/Ulster) 2, Andrew Porter (UCD/Leinster) 43, Cian Prendergast (Connacht) *, James Ryan (UCD/Leinster) 43, Dan Sheehan (Lansdowne/Leinster) 7, Nick Timoney (Banbridge/Ulster) 2, Kieran Treadwell (Ballymena/Ulster) 5, Josh van der Flier (UCD/Leinster) 40

* Denotes uncapped player

IRELAND 2022 SUMMER TOUR FIXTURES:

Māori All Blacks v IRELAND

FMG Stadium, Hamilton, Wednesday, June 29 (8.05am Irish time)

New Zealand v IRELAND

Eden Park, Auckland, Saturday, July 2 (kick-off 8.05am Irish time)

New Zealand v IRELAND

Forsyth Barr Stadium, Dunedin, Saturday, July 9 (8.05am Irish time)

Māori All Blacks v IRELAND

Sky Stadium, Wellington, Tuesday, July 12 (8.05am Irish time)

New Zealand v IRELAND

Sky Stadium, Wellington, Saturday, July 16 (8.05am Irish time)