Ulster Player James McNabney Suffers ACL Injury Before Ireland's Summer Tour

Ulster's James McNabney has unfortunately sustained an ACL injury during training in preparation for Ireland's upcoming two-Test summer tour against Georgia and Portugal. The IRFU shared this news in a squad update, with Ulster confirming that the 22-year-old back row has already undergone surgery. This setback comes at a crucial time for the northern province as they gear up for the 2025/26 season.

McNabney was initially part of Paul O'Connell's Ireland squad as a training player but has now been replaced by Munster's Brian Gleeson. Alongside Gleeson, Evan O'Connell and Diarmuid Kilgallen from Munster will also join the squad. Kilgallen's inclusion comes as Calvin Nash deals with an ankle injury that will limit his on-field participation this week.

The Ireland team will be training at the IRFU High Performance Centre before heading to Tbilisi on July 2nd. They are set to face Georgia at Mikheil Meskhi Stadium on July 5th and Portugal in Lisbon on July 12th.