The History of the Emerging Ireland Rugby team

October 01, 2024
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Ultimate Rugby

Ahead ot their match against the Pumas in the opening round of the Totota Challenge in Bloemfontein, lets have a look at the History of the Emerging Ireland rugby team

2013 Tbilisi Cup

The team was created to offer Tier 1 level opposition for Tier 2 sides in the IRB Thibisi Cup , held in Georgia. Allen Clarke, Ian Costello and Joey Miles managed the team, with Rhys Ruddock as captain.

In Emerging Ireland's opening match, they faced hosts Georgia. This match was won by the Emerging side 20–15 in their first ever game. In their second match, South Africa Presidents XV beat Emerging Ireland 19–8, before Emerging Ireland beat Uruguay 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, Ian Keatley and Rhys Ruddock 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

Photo-2013 Tbilisi Cup launch

2014 IRB Nations Cup

On 1 April 2014, it was announced that Emerging Ireland would take part in the 2014 edition of the IRB Nations Cup in Bucharest, Romania. Dan McFarland, Connacht assistant coach at the time, was appointed as head coach and Ulster backs coach, Neil Doak 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

Photo-Andrew Conway makes a break during the game in Tbilisi

2022 South Africa Tour

Simon Easterby 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.