{"id":191935,"date":"2025-10-05T17:40:12","date_gmt":"2025-10-05T17:40:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/191935\/"},"modified":"2025-10-05T17:40:12","modified_gmt":"2025-10-05T17:40:12","slug":"ross-byrne-makes-position-clear-on-future-ireland-test-selection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/191935\/","title":{"rendered":"Ross Byrne makes position clear on future Ireland Test selection"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Ross Byrne says he would \u201calways say yes\u201d to an Ireland<\/a> recall \u2013 but admits he knew he was effectively ruling himself out of Test contention when he joined Gloucester<\/a> over the summer.<\/p>\n

The fly-half was at the centre of the action in Gloucester\u2019s dramatic 37-35 home loss to Northampton<\/a> on Sunday, impressing throughout before being yellow-carded late on for a one-handed intercept attempt near his own line.<\/p>\n

The decision proved costly, as Anthony Belleau<\/a> slotted the resulting penalty to snatch victory for Saints. Byrne\u2019s card looked harsh \u2013 he was inches from pulling off the catch \u2013 but it capped an otherwise strong showing for the former Leinster<\/a> man, who kicked five conversions and steered Gloucester\u2019s second-half resurgence.<\/p>\n

Byrne spoke to The Irish Independent in an article published over the weekend about (among other things) his international future, saying that he would never turn down a call from Andy Farrell, even if such a call now appears unlikely.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Ireland ever came calling, I\u2019d always say yes. It\u2019s always something, especially if you\u2019ve played and you\u2019ve had success, how good it is.<\/p>\n

\"Team Kicks \"Team <\/p>\n

1:17.8<\/p>\n

Kick To Pass Ratio<\/p>\n

1:5.2<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know if it is actually a contractual [IRFU] rule or what the story is, which is probably mental that I don\u2019t know if it\u2019s black or white, so I couldn\u2019t tell you the answer.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was fully aware of it [that he wouldn\u2019t get picked by Ireland] when I made the decision, but I don\u2019t know what the future will hold, to be honest\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve signed a three-year contract, but I\u2019ll only be 33 at the end of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ireland operate an informal but rigid policy against selecting players based outside the country \u2014 a stance that has held firm even amid recent player departures to France<\/a> and England.<\/p>\n

The only modern exception was Johnny Sexton<\/a>, who continued to feature for Ireland while at Racing 92<\/a> a decade ago.<\/p>\n

Byrne, capped 23 times, was part of Ireland\u2019s 2023 Rugby World Cup<\/a> squad but slipped down the pecking order last season, with Jack Crowley<\/a> and Sam Prendergast<\/a> now firmly established as Farrell\u2019s first and second choice No.10s.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ross Byrne says he would \u201calways say yes\u201d to an Ireland recall \u2013 but admits he knew he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":191936,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-191935","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191935","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=191935"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191935\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/191936"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=191935"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=191935"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=191935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}