Ireland rugby: New coaches, new players, new captain…Ireland’s summer tour kicks off

The 2025 Six Nations brought the curtain down on the long and distinguished Test careers of Peter O’Mahony, Conor Murray and Cian Healy.

The trio have been a mainstay of the international panel for over a decade and earned a combined 376 caps in green. Indeed, nobody in history played more for Ireland than Healy.

Their retirements, which in the case of Murray is solely from the international game, offer up opportunities for others to crack what has been a relatively settled matchday squad.

Leinster’s Jack Boyle had already been putting pressure on Healy after the 23-year-old made his debut against Wales in the Six Nations, and will be in pole position, but Munster’s Michael Milne and Paddy McCarthy, who is the younger brother of British and Irish Lions lock Joe McCarthy, will also be keen to grab their opportunities to impress.

Coupled with the form of Jamison Gibson-Park, Munster’s Craig Casey, who missed the Six Nations through injury, had already largely edged ahead of Murray for both province and the Test side.

The 26-year-old will step up to captain Ireland for the first time on this tour but will be backed up by the uncapped pair of Ben Murphy and Nathan Doak, with the former named on the bench against Georgia.

With usual skipper Caelan Doris injured, and Jack Conan and Josh van der Flier away with the Lions, plenty of back rows figure to be handed the chance to stake a claim to step up in O’Mahony’s absence.

While Ryan Baird would appear to have a head start, and starts at blind-side on Saturday, the likes of Max Deegan, Nick Timoney and Gavin Coombes will all look to transfer impressive provincial form to the Test game after stop-start international careers.