The Ireland coaching group have selected a squad of 36 players for the upcoming 2021 Guinness Six Nations Championship.
Jonathan Sexton will captain the squad for a second Six Nations campaign and there are two uncapped players included – Munster scrum half Craig Casey and Ulster prop Tom O’Toole.
O’Toole was named in the Ireland panel at the start of the 2020 Championship, while Casey, who won a Grand Slam with the Ireland Under-20s in 2019, trained with the squad last October.
Ireland have just two fixtures at the Aviva Stadium in the 2021 Six Nations, hosting France in the second round and England during the final weekend of the tournament.
In the opening round Ireland will take on Wayne Pivac’s Wales at the Principality Stadium. Their first two games of the 2021 Championships against Wales and France will both take place on Sunday afternoons.
Ireland’s third round match is at the Stadio Olimpico against Italy, and in the penultimate round they will face Scotland.
Ireland head coach Andy Farrell commented: “Since the autumn international window, the club season has had a good few disruptions and the cancellation of the European fixtures means there have been less opportunities for players to show form or to return from injury and get some minutes under their belts.
“Tadhg (Furlong) hasn’t played in quite a while but he is ready to join the group. Unfortunately Jacob (Stockdale) will not be available to us.”
All Ireland games will be televised on Virgin Media in the Republic of Ireland, and on ITV (v France, Italy & England) and BBC (v Wales & Scotland) in Northern Ireland.
Ireland Squad – 2021 Guinness Six Nations Championship:
Player/Club/Province/Caps –
Backs (17):
Bundee Aki (Galwegians/Connacht) 30
Billy Burns (Ulster) 3
Ross Byrne (UCD/Leinster) 11
Craig Casey (Shannon/Munster) *
Andrew Conway (Garryowen/Munster) 24
Shane Daly (Cork Constitution/Munster) 1
Keith Earls (Young Munster/Munster) 88
Chris Farrell (Young Munster/Munster) 14
Jamison Gibson-Park (Leinster) 5
Robbie Henshaw (Buccaneers/Leinster) 47
Hugo Keenan (UCD/Leinster) 6
Jordan Larmour (St. Mary’s College/Leinster) 24
James Lowe (Leinster) 2
Stuart McCloskey (Bangor/Ulster) 4
Conor Murray (Garryowen/Munster) 87
Garry Ringrose (UCD/Leinster) 30
Jonathan Sexton (St. Mary’s College/Leinster) (capt) 95
Forwards (19):
Tadhg Beirne (Lansdowne/Munster) 17
Will Connors (UCD/Leinster) 5
Caelan Doris (St. Mary’s College/Leinster) 7
Ultan Dillane (Galway Corinthians/Connacht) 17
Tadhg Furlong (Clontarf/Leinster) 25
Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster) 104
Dave Heffernan (Buccaneers/Connacht) 5
Iain Henderson (Academy/Ulster) 58
Rob Herring (Ballynahinch/Ulster) 16
Ronan Kelleher (Lansdowne/Leinster) 6
Dave Kilcoyne (UL Bohemians/Munster) 39
Peter O’Mahony (Cork Constitution/Munster) 73
Tom O’Toole (Banbridge/Ulster) *
Andrew Porter (UCD/Leinster) 32
Quinn Roux (Galwegians/Connacht) 16
Rhys Ruddock (St. Mary’s College/Leinster) 26
James Ryan (UCD/Leinster) 32
CJ Stander (Shannon/Munster) 46
Josh van der Flier (UCD/Leinster) 28
* Denotes uncapped player
Ireland 2021 Guinness Six Nations Fixtures:
Wales v IRELAND
Principality Stadium, Cardiff
Sunday 7th February, KO 15.00
VIRGIN / BBC
IRELAND v France
Aviva Stadium, Dublin
Sunday 14th February, KO 15.00
VIRGIN / ITV
Italy v IRELAND
Stadio Olimpico, Rome
Saturday 27th February, KO 14.15
VIRGIN / ITV
Scotland v IRELAND
BT Murrayfield, Edinburgh
Sunday 14th March, KO 15.00
VIRGIN / BBC
IRELAND v England
Aviva Stadium, Dublin
Saturday 20th March, KO 16.45
VIRGIN / ITV
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Source: Irish Rugby