Ireland set to announce shock summer tour inclusion

Joe Schmidt is set to name a summer tour bolter who has not even played for Leinster's senior side yet.

Fitness and plain old luck allowing, James Ryan is going to be a big presence in Irish rugby for meany years to come. Ryan captained Ireland to the World Rugby Under-20 Championship final last summer and followed up an impressive Six Nations [clip below] with even greater deeds against the very top teams. https://twitter.com/SportsJOEdotie/status/698246132401598464 He stepped up to train full-time with the senior Leinster squad and was due to make his debut while the province had men away on November Series international duty. A severe hamstring injury stymied those plans and the lock set about an extensive rest and re-hab and re-conditioning programme. Leinster are unlikely to cap Ryan in this weekend's Guinness PRO12 semi-final so Ryan found some game time with Munster's U20 side against a developmental Ireland U20. Munster head coach Rassie Erasmus told Irish Independent that Ryan's unusual appearance was down to a special request. He commented:

"It was just a request for him to get match fitness through Leinster and Joe Schmidt.

Brian O'Driscoll famously, back in 1999, made his Ireland debut before he had lined out in a senior game for Leinster but such cases are extremely rare in modern professional times. The squad will be named later today and there may also be call-ups for uncapped Ulster players Kieran Treadwell [lock] and Jacob Stockdale [back three].