{"id":280439,"date":"2026-02-04T15:21:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T15:21:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/280439\/"},"modified":"2026-02-04T15:21:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T15:21:08","slug":"max-deegan-to-captain-ireland-xv-as-team-to-play-england-is-named-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/280439\/","title":{"rendered":"Max Deegan to captain Ireland XV as team to play England is named \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Captain Max Deegan<\/a> is one of six senior capped players starting on the Irish XV<\/a> side to face England A on Friday night at Thomond Park (kick-off 7.15pm, live on Premier Sports).<\/p>\n

Munster fullback Shane Daly, Ulster centre James Hume and Leinster outhalf Ciar\u00e1n Frawley all add international experience to the backline, with Frawley arriving in Limerick from Andy Farrell\u2019s senior squad in Portugal last week.<\/p>\n

The previously capped Deegan, Leinster hooker Gus McCarthy and Munster lock Fineen Wycherley are all named in the starting pack by head coach Cullie Tucker for what they expect to be a hugely tough challenge, having lost to England 28-12 last year in Bristol.<\/p>\n

Players will be looking to Farrell with a look to receiving a call-up to his senior squad for the remaining Six Nations matches after Ireland open against France on Thursday night in Paris. Failing that players will also have an eye on the 2027 World Cup in Australia.<\/p>\n

To that end Tucker has rewarded players who have shown good form with their provinces this season.<\/p>\n

Ulster\u2019s Zac Ward, starting on the left wing, and Leinster\u2019s Joshua Kenny on the right are two who have impressed. Munster\u2019s Dan Kelly is another at inside centre and he forms a partnership with Hume outside him at 13. With Daly at fullback it makes for a backline with some edge and pace.<\/p>\n

Tucker goes for an all Leinster halfback pairing with Fintan Gunne starting at scrumhalf alongside pivot Frawley.<\/p>\n

In the pack, Billy Bohan goes from strength to strength at loosehead. Another who arrived in from Portugal he joins McCarthy and Scott Wilson in the frontrow.<\/p>\n

Ulster\u2019s Charlie Irvine and Wycherley start in the secondrow with Deegan leading the team from blindside flanker.<\/p>\n

Bryn Ward, who also travelled to Portugal, joins his brother Zac on the team and starts at openside flanker, bringing to five the number of starting Ulster players. Munster\u2019s Brian Gleeson will be readying himself to face into the stiff challenge of Alex Dumbrandt, who lines out at number eight for England.<\/p>\n

With 23 senior caps the Harlequins backrow is most experienced player on the pitch.<\/p>\n

Tucker opts for a 6-2 split on the bench with Diarmuid Barron, Sam Crean, Jack Aungier, Harry Sheridan, Paul Boyle and Sean Jansen providing forward cover. New Ulster signing Matthew Devine and Connacht\u2019s Cathal Forde complete the 23-man squad.<\/p>\n

IRELAND XV: Shane Daly (Munster); Joshua Kenny (Leinster), James Hume (Ulster), Dan Kelly (Munster), Zac Ward (Ulster); Ciar\u00e1n Frawley (Leinster), Fintan Gunne (Leinster); Billy Bohan (Connacht), Gus McCarthy (Leinster), Scott Wilson (Ulster); Charlie Irvine (Ulster), Fineen Wycherley (Munster); Max Deegan (Leinster) (capt), Bryn Ward (Ulster), Brian Gleeson (Munster).<\/p>\n

Replacements: Diarmuid Barron (Munster), Sam Crean (Ulster), Jack Aungier (Connacht), Harry Sheridan (Ulster), Paul Boyle (Connacht), Matthew Devine (Connacht), Cathal Forde (Connacht), Sean Jansen (Connacht).<\/p>\n

ENGLAND A: Joe Carpenter (Sale); Cadan Murley (Harlequins), Luke Northmore (Harlequins), Orlando Bailey (Leicester), Ollie Hassell-Collins (Leicester); Billy Searle (Leicester), Harry Randall (Bristol); Tarek Haffar (Leicester), Jamie Blamire (Leicester), George Kloska (Bristol); Ben Bamber (Sale), Joe Batley (Bristol); Ethan Roots (Exeter, capt), Jack Kenningham (Harlequins), Alex Dombrandt (Harlequins).<\/p>\n

Replacements: Kepueli Tuipulotu (Bath), Archie van der Flier (Leicester), Afolabi Fasogbon (Gloucester), Hugh Tizard (Saracens), Fitz Harding (Bristol), Raffi Quirke (Sale), Charlie Atkinson (Gloucester), George Hendy (Northampton).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Captain Max Deegan is one of six senior capped players starting on the Irish XV side to face…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":280440,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,127772,43,15551],"class_list":{"0":"post-280439","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-ie","9":"tag-ireland","10":"tag-max-deegan","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-six-nations"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280439","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=280439"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280439\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/280440"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=280439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=280439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=280439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}