Somewhat out of the blue, Ireland's men's hockey team are taking on Belgium at Belfield this weekend, on Saturday (3.0) in an official international and on Sunday (2.0) in a challenge game.

John Clarke's squad shows four changes from that which played in Wales at the end of June. Veteran defender Alan Dowd and the as yet uncapped striker Colin Hanna are unavailable while David McAnulty is still injured. Their places are taken by Ivan Steen and Francis de Rosa (both awaiting first caps) and Mark Irwin, with the fourth change being the return, after a year's rest, of the seasoned Ivan Bateman who comes in for Kyle Thompson as one of the goalkeepers.