Ireland A national rugby union team
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| Union | Irish Rugby Football Union |
|---|---|
| Emblem(s) | the Shamrock |
| Ground(s) | Donnybrook, Ravenhill, The Sportsground |
| Coach(es) |
Dan McFarland Richie Murphy |
| Captain(s) | Felix Jones |
| First match | |
Ireland XV  3–4  France(26 January 1946) |
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| Largest win | |
Ireland XV 60–3  Scotland A(01 March 2002) |
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| Largest defeat | |
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Ireland XV 7–67 Scotland A (22 February 2008) |
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The Ireland Wolfhounds (formerly Ireland A) are the second national rugby union team of Ireland, behind the Ireland national team. They have previously competed in the Churchill Cup together with the England Saxons and the full national teams of Canada and the United States, as well as with a selection of other nations' 1st, 2nd and 3rd representative sides (including Scotland A and the New Zealand Maori). They also play against other 6 Nations countries' A sides during the RBS 6 Nations. Now and again they will also play touring sides. For example, they played South Africa in 2000, the All Blacks in 2001 and Australia in 2006. On the 21 June 2009, Ireland A won their first Churchill Cup, beating the England Saxons 49–22 in the final. They also won the Churchill Plate three times in 2006, 2007 and 2008. They were renamed Ireland Wolfhounds in January 2010.
Ireland Wolfhounds 23-man match day squad to play England Saxons on 30 January 2015.
The above is a non-exhaustive list of the head-to-head record against opponents since only the early 1990s, and includes fixtures against non-national representative sides such as the New Zealand Maori, as well as some club teams. Given the irregularity of 'A' level fixtures (for example, the only annual fixture left for the Wolfhounds is the game a week before the RBS 6 Nations starts against England Saxons), it is difficult to track the progress of the 'A' teams. After a string of poor results, Wales A, for example, have not fielded a team in well over a decade, last taking to the field in 2002.
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