For the Ireland v Wales match you could be Ireland’s bagman! Don’t worry you will be in good hands as you join the legend Rala, Ireland’s head bagman.

Experience a truly “backstage” experience with the Irish Rugby team on 6 Nations match day!

Enter the Competition Here

Full Prize Includes:
Helping the Bagman for the Day
Overnight Stay in a Dublin Hotel
€100 Paddy Power bet on the game
€100 Beer Money (you’ll need a pint after all that hard work!)
Signed Irish Jersey by the Team & Rala

Learn more about Rala!

Puma have replaced Canterbury as the IRFU’s chosen jersey manufacturer. The new shirt returns to Irish Rugby’s roots with a classic design and a new shade or green. Puma call it “power green”.

New Puma Irish Rugby Jersey

Buy your jersey online from the official Irish Rugby store.

Jochen Zeitz, Chairman and CEO of PUMA, said:

“Developing the team kit, replica kit and training equipment has been an extremely exciting process for the brand and we’re proud to have worked so closely with both the players and the coaching staff to achieve a really strong and exciting new range of Irish rugby kit.”

“The new kit incorporates PUMA’s latest technologies that have been used in the past for some of the most demanding sporting occasions – and has performed extraordinarily from the Pit Lane at Imola to the 100 metre finals in Beijing and Berlin.

This years Guinness autumn test matches will see Ireland face Australia (15th Nov), Fiji (21st) and South Africa (28th).

Brian O’Driscoll is set to resume captaining duties for the 3 autumn Internationals. There is no doubt Brian has the credentials to lead Ireland after captaining the team to win this years Six Nations Championship.

The Irish Squad are currently training in preparation for their first match against Australia. A number of injury concerns are hanging over the squad with Marcus Horan currently undergoing medical tests after experiencing dizziness in last months Munster match against Benetton Treviso.

Other concerns include Rob Kearney, Jerry Flannery, Tomas O’Leary, Paddy Wallace Denis Leamy, Tony Buckley and Leo Cullen. However most of these players are thought to be available for next weeks test match.

If you are interested in writing articles for this site, maybe match reports or even a one-off Irish rugby traveling story then please get in touch. I would love to hear from any interested fans out there. andrew@irishrugby.co.uk

So what’s new?

Irish Rugby Jersey

In case you have not noticed Puma have replaced Canterbury for this seasons rugby kit. After a long partnership with Canterbury the powers above have decided its time for a fresh start.

I must say while I am a fan of Canterbury, I was not a fan of last seasons jersey. The new puma jersey is reminiscent of a classic Irish jersey sticking with a simple single block of colour for the design. Just have to get used to a new shade of green!

New Puma Irish Rugby Jersey

What are your views on the new kit?

Irish Rugby logo

Along with a new kit, the IRFU has decided to update the official Irish Rugby logo, or identity as they like to call it. The official announcement

Old v.s. New Irish Rugby Logo

“Probably, out of all the teams in the Six Nations, the Welsh players dislike the Irish the most.”

Gatland’s comments are probably no more than off the field tactics to get a reaction out of the Irish camp. However it seems to have done little to spoil the Irish momentum leading into this weekend’s big game.

Kidney announced three changes to the starting line-up. The battle at scrum half continues with O’Leary starting ahead of Stringer, slightly confusing after Stringers excellent game last week but I am sure we will see him at some point. Two other welcomed changes come in the form of Flannery and Heaslip returning to the starting 15.

Ireland: Rob Kearney; Tommy Bowe, Brian O’Driscoll (capt), Gordon D’Arcy, Luke Fitzgerald; Ronan O’Gara, Tomas O’Leary; Marcus Horan, Jerry Flannery, John Hayes, Donncha O’Callaghan, Paul O’Connell (capt), Stephen) Ferris, David Wallace, Jamie Heaslip.
Replacements: Rory Best, Tom Court, M O’Driscoll, Denis Leamy, Peter Stringer, Paddy Wallace, Geordan Murphy.

Kick-off: 17:15 – Saturday 8 November
Venue: Thomond Park

Ireland will kick of their string of friendlies against Canada in the recently renovated Thomond Park. The match should provide a great opportunity to for coach Declan Kidney to hand out a few new caps in the form of Ryan Cladwell and Keith Earls.

Team
Ireland: Earls; Bowe, O’Driscoll, capt, Fitzgerald, Kearney; O’Gara, Reddan; Horan, Flannery, Buckley, O’Callaghan, O’Connell, Ferris, Jennings, Heaslip.
Replacements (from): R Best, Hayes, Caldwell, Quinlan, D Wallace, P Wallace, Stringer, Horgan.

It safe to say the pressure is on New Zealand and the home crowd will be expecting an a good win to make up for the team’s World Cup disappointment. After a long season of rugby, especially for the Munster players, it is set to be a tough encounter for Ireland.

Team
Ireland: R Kearney, S Horgan, Brian O’Driscoll (cpt), P Wallace, T Bowe, R O’Gara, E Reddan, J Heaslip, D Wallace, D Leamy, D O’Callaghan, P O’Connell, J Hayes, J Flannery, M Horan.
Replacements: G Dempsey, G Murphy, P Stringer, S Jennings, M O’Driscoll, T Buckley, R Best.

Both John Hayes and captain Brian O’Driscoll will win their 80th caps on the day with Malcolm O’Kelly extending the all time record to 92 caps.

Full team as follows:

Ireland: G Dempsey; A Trimble, B O’Driscoll, G D’Arcy, G Murphy; R O’Gara, E Reddan; M Horan, R Best, J Hayes, D O’Callaghan, M O’Kelly, S Easterby, D Wallace, D Leamy.

Replacements: B Jackman, T Buckley, M O’Driscoll, J Heaslip, P Stringer, P Wallace, R Kearney.

It seems to be odd timing for the IRFU to extend the contract with the World Cup only weeks away. I’m sure this could have been done after the World Cup, that way the IRFU could decide whether Eddie is the right man to coach the 2011 world cup squad as well.

It’s a strong message by the IRFU, they are obviously happy with the job Eddie is doing. We can only hope that Eddie will deliver during this, the most important coaching period of his life.

Eddie to coach the Lions in 2009?

It is also likely that Eddie will coach the Lions for their 2009 tour to South Africa. Kindly the IRFU has agreed to let Eddie take the position if he was offered it.

Should the Lions position come my way and I’m happy to take it, they’ll release me for the period necessary to do the Lions and I can come back (to the Ireland job) afterwards. That’s very generous of them.

We ask: Is Eddie the right man to coach to 2011 Rugby World Cup team? Leave a comment here