Latest news with #RonanKelleher
Irish Daily Mirror
12 hours ago
- Sport
- Irish Daily Mirror
Lions to kick off 2025 Tour with shocking display of elitism and snub to rivals
The Lions will kick off their 2025 Tour with a stunning display of elitism - there will be no 'test caps' for the game with Argentina. This at a time when the Pumas are FIFTH in the world rankings, three spots ahead of world-ranked EIGHTH Australia for whom Lions caps will be awarded for playing against. The Lions will play nine matches on their 2025 Tour, one in Ireland and eight in Australia. Of those, four are against national sides, the opener Argentina in the Aviva Stadium and the three-game series with Australia. There are a further three games against Super Rugby teams, one against a representative selection and one game against opposition yet to be confirmed. Yet there are only Lions caps awarded for the games with the Wallabies, a clear snub to the Pumas - never mind those playing over €150 to watch the game in Dublin which is essentially ranked by the Lions as an 'exhibition'. "For us, the most important thing is not who we play or where we play, it is the jersey we put on," insists teak-tough Puma centre Matias Moroni. "So it doesn't matter if it's a game in a park or in a stadium with all the crowd, every time we put on our jersey it is the most important thing, because we represent all our effort. "We represent all the players that have played for Argentina, our country, our family, our amateur clubs, our coaches. "So I think, obviously it's real for us, it's gonna be a really good amount of fear, but the most important thing is to do our best in the jersey that we're gonna put on." Ireland may have five players in the mix to start as the likelihood is the eight Leinster players who started against Bulls last weekend won't be considered while there are a further three on the injury list. Ronan Kelleher, who was on the bench for Bulls might be involved, while Connacht's Bundee Aki, Finlay Bealham and Mack Hansen - none of whom were born in Ireland - and Munster's Tadhg Beirne are in consideration. A poor return for Irish for fans for a game which does not award Lions caps and for which the lowest priced tickets for the Aviva are €158. A cost that has drawn criticism from many quarters and compares unfavourably with the list prices for the rest of the non-Test games on the Tour as, for instance, the Lions vs Western Force match in Perth has tickets from €58. The game against Queensland Reds in Brisbane has tickets for €67. Meanwhile, Scotland second-row Scott Cummings is expected to claim one of the second-row spots on Friday, most likely alongside Beirne. "It was definitely a bit of a surreal moment hearing your name get called out and that you had made the squad," admitted the Scot who was only considered 40/60 to make the cut beforehand. "It's something you dream of as a kid and as a player. Over the past couple of years, it's definitely been a target for me. "Obviously, with being injured for a decent part of the season, I didn't know if that was going to affect my chances so hearing your name called out was probably the highlight of my professional career so far. "It's been a bit of a whirlwind since then, getting to meet everyone. Andy Farrell has set his stall out in terms of what he wants from us all and it's just getting to know everyone and build that cohesion." Cummings revealed that Farrell, pre-Tour, had decided on a light touch. "He didn't load us too much before we came in. We were playing with our clubs and he wanted us finishing the season winning if we could. "But since we've been in, there's a lot of detail being added. Everyone's trying to help each other out. "Obviously, some of the Irish guys have been through certain things but it's a different game plan and there's a lot of stuff coming from all the teams so everyone is working together as much as they can. "It's tough because there are different coaches, there's lots of stuff we're taking from the different teams we're trying to integrate into one." Cummings has enjoyed the freedom to finish out the season with Glasgow without the extra Lions pressure. "I've always said that if you play well for your club, you get picked for national and if you get picked for national, you end up being picked for the Lions. "For me, it's just trying to represent Glasgow as well as I can every day and represent Scotland as much as I could. I want to get my hands on the ball. "I feel like I'm someone who has got a bit of speed in their game, that's probably one of my points of difference, so trying to get my hands on the ball, run lines, and impact the defence as much as I can." And now the hope is he will impress against Argentina "I think the coaches have put it on us. We've only been together for a short period of time so there will be some mistakes. "We're still learning our systems over the past couple of weeks, but Friday is a massive opportunity for us to show what we've been working on. "We have high quality players across the team, and they're just telling us to go and make rugby decisions; attack it, don't sit back and let Argentina play their style. Go and get them, go and show what we can do as a team.. "It's a massive occasion, if I'm lucky enough to get selected it will be a huge moment for anyone."
BBC News
09-05-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Leinster name nine Lions inclusions for Zebre game
Leinster have named nine of their 12 players selected for the British and Irish Lions tour in their squad for Saturday's United Rugby Championship contest against Zebre at the Aviva Stadium (17:15 BST)James Lowe and Garry Ringrose will start in the backs with Ronan Kelleher, Joe McCarthy, Jack Conan and Josh van der Flier selected in the forwards and Jamison Gibson-Park, Andrew Porter and James Ryan included in the United Rugby Championship leaders retain six of their starters from last weekend's shock Investec Cup semi-final defeat by Ringrose and Lions squad omission Sam Prendergast are named in the backs with Kelleher, McCarthy and van der Flier retaining the forward starting Zealand star Jordie Barrett is named at centre after coming on as a second-half replacement last weekend, while Conan will captain the side in the absence of injured Caelan Doris after also been introduced from the bench against replacements include Robbie Henshaw who was a notable omission from Andy Farrell's Lions Ciaran Frawley will make 100 Leinster appearance in Saturday's go into this weekend's round of fixtures with an eight-point lead over second-placed Glasgow while Zebre are in 15th spot, with only marooned Dragons behind them in the Osborne; J O'Brien, Ringrose, Barrett, Lowe; Prendergast, McGrath; Boyle, Kelleher, Clarkson; McCarthy, Mangan; Baird, van der Flier, Conan (capt). Replacements: McKee, Porter, Slimani, Ryan, Culhane, Gibson-Park, Frawley, Henshaw
BBC News
08-05-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Five talking points from Lions squad announcement
So the first roar of the 2025 Lions has been heard - some old cats who have prowled this terrain before, some cubs who are experiencing this for the first time. And Henry Pollock, a beast so rare that it's still difficult to find the right word for Farrell has picked 38 men for the trek to Australia and there are almost as many talking points as players. Here are five. Big-name casualties, especially at hooker Some big-name casualties. No Jamie George and no Dewi Lake. Many folk will have had both of them involved but their places have gone to Ireland's back-up hooker, Ronan Kelleher, and England's Luke Cowan-Dickie. Dan Sheehan was always going to be selected and he's the very clear frontrunner to start in the first will not have been high in Wales, but two Lions is by a distance their lowest-ever total. There was mention of Blair Murray as a bolter at full-back and more talk of Taulupe Faletau possibly coming in for the desperately-unlucky Caelan Doris, who misses out. That's so cruel. From captaincy contender to couch-sitter. It's a horrible sport at times. Marcus makes it but Farrell circus avoided Marcus Smith is in at 10 and as cover at 15, where Blair Kinghorn is likely to miss the first two or three games because of his commitments to Toulouse. Elliot Daly is another who can deputise as 15. Scotland would have been hoping to get Tom Jordan picked in that utility role but it's fallen to Daly was a world of speculation around the 10s. A big campaign had formed around Owen Farrell, sparked in part by Johnny Sexton, the Lions assistant coach, who said previously that he would pick him in his Test squad. Through injury and lack of form in France with Racing, Farrell Jnr doesn't make it. Wonder what Sexton made of that in the selection meeting. His man - out. Farrell Snr may not have wanted the circus of having his son in the squad and, quite possibly, Owen wouldn't have wanted to be part of it either. Intrigue Sam Prendergast also had a bandwagon, but the wheels fell off in a disastrous display against Northampton on Saturday. Some old characters were tipping that there would be no Finn Russell in this squad. He's there and his battle with the brilliant tyro Fin Smith for Test starts will be exhilarating. Back-row power leaves impressive stand-by list There's no getting away from it - the strength in the back-row is immense and there was always going to be big names missing out. Jack Willis is one of them. He's been sensational at Toulouse but if Farrell was prepared to wait for Kinghorn, then he hasn't afforded the same latitude to Willis. Mainly because he doesn't have to. He has more than enough artillery without him. Maybe the dramatic rise and rise of Pollock put paid to his chances also. There's no Ben Curry, no Chandler Cunningham-South, no Faletau. They'll be devastated but if the history of the Lions tells us that injuries will happen and replacements will be parachuted in. The list of standbys will be impressive. Hansen beats Graham in wing battle Scotland will be very happy to have eight - one short of their all-time high - but the many fans of Darcy Graham will be crestfallen. The wee man has X-factor and is in flying form. He was strong in the Six Nations, offers real pace and is as brave as a lion, only he's not a an eyebrow-raiser because Hansen hasn't played since the middle of April and doesn't have the gas that Graham offers. He's a clever rugby player, though, and he has a fan in head coach Farrell. This might have been a call where familiarity won the day. Williams wins scrum-half scrap Jamison Gibson-Park was always a shoo-in and Alex Mitchell was nailed-on to be the second scrum-half. There was a lot of debate around who the third and final nine would be - Tomos Williams or Ben White. The Welshman has won the Dawson went White on a podcast during the week, reckoning that his style of play might best suit what Farrell is looking for. Williams, though, is a terrific player. Smart and dynamic. The call will have come down to fine margins. The agony and ecstasy of the Lions writ large.
BBC News
01-04-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Kelleher to be assessed ahead of Harlequins tie
Ireland hooker Ronan Kelleher will be assessed for selection ahead of Leinster's Investec Champions Cup last-16 tie with Harlequins at Croke 27, has been sidelined with a neck injury and will step up his rehabilitation ahead of the last-16 qualified for the knockout stages as top seed with four victories from the Pool were seeded 15th of the 16 teams to qualify for the knockout stages with two victories from their four row Alex Soroka will be assessed as he works through return to play protocols after a concussion, but Will Connors is out after injuring his shoulder in Saturday's narrow win over the Sharks in South Larmour, Paddy McCarthy, Rob Russell and James Culhane are still unavailable for selection.
BBC News
27-02-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Doris 'in with a shout' of return against France
Ireland captain Caelan Doris is "in with a shout of being involved" in next week's Six Nations game against France, says forwards coach Paul O'Connell. Back row Doris missed the win over Wales in Cardiff with a knee injury but trained with the squad during Thursday's open session at Aviva Ronan Kelleher has also returned to training after missing the Wales game with a neck issue, while O'Connell was similarly upbeat about number eight Jack Conan (back) and prop Tadhg Furlong (calf and hamstring)."Everyone is fine," said O'Connell. "Caelan has been running for the past week, he ran today, so he's certainly in with a shout of being involved. Jack Conan is looking after his back, he injured it in a carry the other day but we'd be pretty confident he'll be OK."I know Ronan Kelleher trained today. Nobody is ruled out. They're all carrying bumps and bruises but they're all doing OK. "Tadhg Furlong was back with his province and he'll be rejoining us next week. No-one is ruled out at this point."When asked about Furlong, who is yet to feature in this year's tournament having also missed the November Tests, O'Connell said the 32-year-old has had "a few false starts" with his rehabilitation."He wants to be sure about it," explained O'Connell."The medics want to be sure about it as well and not have another false start. I'd say if he had no history with that calf, he'd be back by now, but they just want to make sure and he wants to feel sure and confident in it himself."Pacesetters Ireland, who are chasing a record third straight title, host second-placed France in Dublin on 8 March before facing Italy in Rome in the final round on 15 March.
