Connacht captain Duffy called up to Irish squad for New Zealand tour

Keith Kelly

Connacht captain Gavin Duffy has been called up to the Irish squad in New Zealand for the remaining two tests after Keith Earls picked up an injury in Saturday’s 42-10 defeat at the hands of the All Blacks.

Earls was providing full-back cover for Rob Kearney, and while he may be deemed fit for the third test on Saturday week, he is definitely out of this Saturday’s second test in Christchurch, so Irish coach has called up Duffy to join the squad.

Duffy won the last of his 10 Irish caps in 2009 against the USA, and he will be joining up with three other Connacht players in the Irish squad – Ronan Loughney, Brett Wilkinson and Mike McCarthy.

Loughney was the only one of that trio to make the match-day squad on Saturday, and he made his debut when coming on in the 55th minute for Declan Fitzpatrick. He may start this Saturday’s second test as Fitzpatrick picked up a muscle strain on Saturday, but his fitness is being monitored, along with that of Cian Healy, and neither starting prop from Saturday has been ruled out of this coming weekend’s game.

Connacht Academy scrum-half Kieran Marmion scored a try for the Irish U-20 side in their Junior World Cup pool game with England on Friday, but it turned out to be a disappointing night as the Irish lost 20-15 to leave their semi-final hopes hanging by a thread.

The Irish side had stunned South Africa in their opening game to record a 23-19 win, and a second shock looked on the cards when they lead England 15-3 at half time, but last year’s beaten finalists upped their game in the second half to score 17 points without replay and run out 20-15 winners.

The Irish side play their final game at 1.45pm (Irish time) today when they take on Italy, and while mathematically they still have a chance to qualify for the semi-finals as the best runner-up, it is likely today’s game will be their last in the tournament.

The three pool winners, plus the best runner-up, qualify for the semi-finals, and so the Irish side will need to record a bonus point win over Italy; hope England beat South Africa, Australia beat France in Pool C without a bonus point; and pray for a miracle win for either Samoa or Fiji over Wales and New Zealand respectively in Pool A, to qualify for the semi-finals.

Meanwhile the draw for the pool stages of the 2012/13 Heineken Cup takes place at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin this morning, with Connacht in tier three along with the Ospreys, Scarlets, Glasgow, Saracens and Sale Sharks.

For more, read this week's Connacht Sentinel.