Potential Covid case in Ireland rugby squad.
The IRFU has stated that a potential positive Covid-19 case has been identified in the Ireland men’s rugby squad ahead of Saturday’s meeting with New Zealand.
A statement issued on Friday afternoon says: “A potential positive case has been identified in one person via the latest PCR testing carried out on the Ireland squad. Additional testing is being undertaken to establish if this is a false positive.
Captain’s run moved to virtual.
“The entire Ireland squad and management have undergone additional lateral flow and PCR testing today. The lateral flow testing returned no positives and the PCR results are expected later today.”
It is added that “as a precaution, today’s planned captain’s run media briefing will be switched from in-person to to virtual.”
A positive test would not have a big effect on Saturday’s match against the All Blacks at the Aviva Stadium, although the player in question would need to isolate for 10 days if the result is confirmed, ruling them out of the highly-anticipated clash.
? A potential positive Covid-19 case has been identified in one person via the latest PCR testing carried out on the Ireland squad ahead of tomorrow's game against the All Blacks.
Full Details ?#TeamOfUs | #IREvNZL
— Irish Rugby (@IrishRugby) November 12, 2021
Andy Farrell names Ireland team.
Earlier this week, England prop Joe Marler tested positive for Covid-19 and will miss his country’s Autumn Nations Series match against Australia, also on Saturday.
On Thursday, Andy Farrell named Ireland’s starting XV for the match against the three-time world champions as the home side look to emulate the teams of 2016 and 2018 who overcame the mammoth task of beating New Zealand.
Ulster captain Iain Henderson comes in to replace Tadhg Beirne, with Rob Herring named in the replacements instead of Dan Sheehan. Experienced players such as Conor Murray and Keith Earls have also been left on the bench.
New Zealand have named a full-strength side and you can check out Andy Farrell’s full starting line-up to take them on below:
Starters:
15. Hugo Keenan (Leinster)
14. Andrew Conway (Munster)
13. Garry Ringrose (Leinster)
12. Bundee Aki (Connacht)
11. James Lowe (Leinster)
10. Johnny Sexton (Leinster, Ireland captain)
9. Jamison Gibson Park (Leinster)
1. Andrew Porter (Leinster)
2. Ronan Kelleher (Leinster)
3. Tadhg Furlong (Leinster)
4. Iain Henderson (Ulster)
5. James Ryan (Leinster)
6. Caelan Doris (Leinster)
7. Josh van der Flier (Leinster)
8. Jack Conan (Leinster)
Replacements:
16. Rob Herring (Ulster)
17. Cian Healy (Leinster)
18. Finlay Bealham (Connacht)
19. Tadhg Beirne (Munster)
20. Peter O’Mahony (Munster)
21. Conor Murray (Munster)
22. Joey Carbery (Munster)
23. Keith Earls (Munster)
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