Andy Farrell has welcomed confirmation that Ireland A will face an All Blacks XV on Friday, November 4 at the RDS.
The fixture will follow the Emerging Ireland three-game tour of South Africa in October and Ireland head coach Farrell, whose Test side faces South Africa at the Aviva Stadium the following evening, believes the RDS clash will provide further depth to his player pool.
"It is great that we could get this fixture over the line and provides another opportunity for those that stand out on the Emerging Ireland tour to test themselves against a very strong All Blacks XV," said Farrell.
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"The two fixtures against the Māori All Blacks in the summer gave that young group a great insight into what it takes to compete in international rugby and this fixture will allow us to expose more players to that level of competition."
Simon Easterby, who will be Emerging Ireland's head coach in South Africa, will name his squad for the tour tomorrow.
The All Blacks XV is New Zealand Rugby’s next senior national representative team after the All Blacks, operating as a critical high-performance pathway to the All Blacks.
The All Blacks XV follows in the footsteps of similar teams which have assembled throughout New Zealand's rugby history, including the Junior All Blacks, New Zealand A and Emerging Players.
Ticket information for the Ireland A fixture in the RDS will be available in the coming weeks. A small number of tickets remain available for the Ireland v Fiji game on Saturday 12th November in the Aviva Stadium.
Tickets are available to purchase on ticketmaster.ie
Emerging Ireland & Ireland A Fixtures 2022
Windhoek Draught Griquas vs Emerging Ireland
Toyota Stadium, Bloemfontein, South Africa
Friday 30th September 2022, KO 12:45 (Irish time)
Airlink Pumas vs Emerging Ireland
Toyota Stadium, Bloemfontein, South Africa
Wednesday 5th October 2022, KO 16:00 (Irish time)
Toyota Cheetahs vs Emerging Ireland
Toyota Stadium, Bloemfontein, South Africa
Sunday 9th October 2022, KO 12:00 (Irish time)
Ireland A v All Blacks XV
RDS, Dublin
Friday 4th November 2022, KO: TBC
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