| Venue: RDS Arena, Dublin Date: Friday, 4 November Kick-off: 19:45 GMT |
| Coverage: Report on the BBC Sport website |
Ulster’s Jacob Stockdale and James Hume have been named in the Ireland ‘A’ starting team to face an All Blacks XV at the RDS on Friday.
Stockdale starts in an Ireland jersey for the first time in 15 months while Hume is named at inside centre after recently returning from injury.
Munster’s Craig Casey captains the side from scrum-half.
The game precedes Ireland’s opening autumn Test with South Africa at Aviva Stadium on Saturday.
Stockdale has not featured for Ireland since a try-scoring appearance against Japan in July 2021 because the Ulster wing had an ankle injury that kept him out for almost all of last season.
“We all know Jacob has been out injured for quite some time, and there are a few lads that staked a place pretty well over the last 12 months but Jacob coming back at the start of the season has shown a lot of hunger in my eyes,” said Ireland head coach Andy Farrell.
“I know he’s not played for a couple of weeks, but his hunger at the start of the season, how he attacked the season shows me the fight and the want to get his spot back.
“So he gets the opportunity to show us how he’s going to push forward with the rest of the season.”
Baloucoune set to start against Springboks
The inclusion of Stockdale and Leinster’s Jimmy O’Brien suggests Ulster’s Robert Baloucoune will start against the Springboks on Saturday.
Baloucoune, Hugo Keenan and Mack Hansen are the only players in Andy Farrell’s back three options not to be named for Friday’s game.
Ulster’s Stuart McCloskey is another player who has not been named in the 23 to feature against the New Zealand side.
The All Blacks XV is set to include a number of established stars including full-back Damian McKenzie and scrum-half TJ Perenara.
The Ireland ‘A’ side features 12 players who played against the Maori All Blacks during the summer tour of New Zealand – Casey, Gavin Coombes, Ciaran Frawley, Dave Heffernan, Hume, Jeremy Loughman, Michael Lowry, Joe McCarthy,O’Brien, Tom O’Toole, Cian Prendergast and Nick Timoney.
Jamie Osborne is one of three from the Emerging Ireland squad, who toured South Africa in September, in the starting line-up alongside Prendergast and McCarthy.
Diarmuid Barron, Jack Crowley, Max Deegan and Calvin Nash, who were also on the Emerging Ireland tour, are named among the replacements.
Ireland A: Lowry; J O’Brien; Osborne, Hume; Stockdale; Frawley, Casey; Loughman, Heffernan, O’Toole; McCarthy, Thornbury; Prendergast, Timoney, Coombes.
Replacements: Barron, Kilcoyne, Moore, Molony, Deegan, Blade, Crowley, Nash.
