Scrum of the Earth /

Declan Kidney’s named his first Irish squad for a pre-season get together with a sprinkling of youth spread over the tried and tested giants that toured New Zealand and Australia.

The 45 man squad includes 11 members of the Irish Churchill Cup squad as well as Gordon D’Arcy, Andrew Trimble and Leo Cullen, who return from injury.

Kidney said: 'The camp is an opportunity for the coaching staff to work with the players and set some foundations ahead of what is going to be an important November for us.

'We have a new blend of experience in the coaching staff and we felt that this camp would be key to getting the ideas of both the staff and players across ahead of the new season.'

'Once we get into September, it really is a short space of time before we will arrive at our first camp ahead of the November games, so it will be important to our preparation. It is an exciting time and both the coaching staff and myself are looking forward to getting down to business and working with what is a talented squad of players.'

Ireland squad for four-day pre-season training camp:

Neil Best, Rory Best, Isaac Boss, Tommy Bowe, Tony Buckley, Ryan Caldwell, Robert Casey, Tom Court, Leo Cullen, Gordon D'Arcy, Girvan Dempsey, Ian Dowling, Gavin Duffy, Keith Earls, Stephen Ferris, Luke Fitzgerald, Jerry Flannery, John Hayes, Cian Healy, Jamie Heaslip, Marcus Horan, Shane Horgan, Bernard Jackman, Shane Jennings, Robert Kearney, Denis Leamy, Geordan Murphy, Donncha O' Callaghan, Paul O' Connell, Ronan O' Gara, Malcolm O' Kelly, Brian O'Driscoll, Mick O'Driscoll, Tomas O'Leary, Alan Quinlan, Eoin Reddan, Michael Ross, Donncha Ryan, Jonathan Sexton, Peter Stringer, Andrew Trimble, David Wallace, Paddy Wallace,
Roger Wilson, Bryan Young.