Autumn Internationals: Eight Ulster players included in Irish squad

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Eight Ulster players have been called up to the Ireland squad ahead of the four-match Autumn International series that kicks off next Saturday against Italy in Chicago.

Will Addison is the only uncapped Ulsterman to be selected and his performances this season have certainly warranted the selection. John Cooney, Rob Herring and Stuart McCloskey join the usual suspects in Rory Best, Jacob Stockdale, Jordi Murphy and Iain Henderson.

Addison has the potential to be a real favourite in the Ireland camp especially as how similar a player he is to Jared Payne. I expect him to be a useful bench option for Ireland due to his versatility and playing full back and outside centre competently, however would be disappointed if we don’t see him start against Italy next week.

For the first time in my memory, Ireland have serious depth in the majority of positions, especially centre. It’ll be difficult for Stuart McCloskey to break ahead of Bundee Aki, Garry Ringrose, Sam Arnold and Robbie Henshaw but the Bangor man is having a decent run . . .

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