Ireland will return to international action in the country next month, after it was announced that they will play Belgium in a match in Bray.
Rugby League Ireland say that the Test match will comprise of a fully domestic-based Irish team – something that has never happened before – in the first meeting of the two teams.
The Irish team will be coached by current Students head coach Carl de Chenu. De Chenu has a strong pedigree himself and has time and time again proved himself worthy with the Irish student team and has a lot of support stepping up to the senior level. The team will have a mix of players who have played at Ireland A level and players who will be getting their first taste of International rugby league. The match, the first of three, will give all players involved a full international cap.
The Ireland students have just come from a Four Nations tournament, which also gave Bray their first taste of rugby league. We received great feedback from local supporters and staff at the Carlisle grounds. The Irish students team narrowly lost to Wales and England 20-12 and 44-24 respectively and overcame Scotland in a great game, winning 20-8.
The other two senior matches will be away, versus Serbia on August 29 and Malta on September 5.
“These games will help develop our local players and prepare them to step up to the European Championship games in the autumn,” said Richard Egan, Director of RLI.
