Ulster’s Rob Herring to replace injured Seán Cronin in Ireland squad

Leinster hooker suffers recurrence of neck injury in training ahead of New Zealand quarter-final

Ulster hooker Rob Herring is set to join Ireland's Rugby World Cup squad as a replacement for the injured Séan Cronin.

Cronin has been ruled out of the tournament after suffering a recurrence of a neck injury in training ahead of Ireland's World Cup quarter-final against New Zealand in Tokyo on Saturday.

Herring has earned eight caps for Ireland since his debut in 2014 and narrowly missed the cut when head coach Joe Schmidt named his 31-man squad for the tournament in Japan.

The 29-year-old is set to be the second player to be called into the Irish squad during the World Cup, along with Jordi Murphy who replaced Leinster's Jack Conan, who sustained a foot injury in training last month.