The Emerging Ireland tour to South Africa from 2022 was quite the success looking back on it two years on.
It gave exposure to young Irish players who may not have been playing week-in-week-out for their clubs and gave coaches a chance to work more intensely with players who they wouldn't normally work with in full Ireland camps.
Jack Crowley, Joe McCarthy, Calvin Nash and Ciarán Frawley to name a few have been players who went from the Emerging Ireland tour to representing Ireland at full senior level while Jamie Osborne, Cathal Forde and Nathan Doak are crucial players for their provinces and will likely get capped sooner rather than later.
It proved to be a positive experience for both players and coaches involved and we could be seeing another tour of its kind happen in the near future.
Report: Another Emerging Ireland Tour To Happen Later This Year
John O'Sullivan of the Irish Times is reporting that the IRFU are finalising another Emerging Ireland tour to take place later this year in South Africa again with a coaching ticket similar to the last tour also taking charge.
Simon Easterby was the Head Coach for the last tour with Paul O'Connell, Mike Catt and John Fogarty making up his coaching ticket. Catt will be departing the Irish team after the summer tour to South Africa so it will be likely that his replacement Andrew Goodman will take his place in the case of an Emerging Ireland tour.
Andy Farrell will be taking a sabbatical from his Ireland duties next year as he will be Head Coach of the British & Irish Lions for the tour to Australia.
That means that Simon Easterby will take his reins as Ireland Head Coach for next year's Six Nations so more time in charge of an Emerging Ireland side will be valuable experience for the former Ireland International.
The prospect of seeing the likes of Sam Prendergast, Brian Gleeson and Hugh Gavin dawn an Irish jersey for senior matches, even if they aren't full test matches is exciting and should give those young players valuable experience working with International coaches.
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