Four noticeable omissions as Farrell names bumper 45-man squad for Ireland camp
New Ireland head coach Andy Farrell has named a 45-man squad for his first camp since succeeding Joe Schmidt.
Farrell will host what the IRFU are referring to as a "24hour mid-season stocktake" at the union's new High Performance Centre in Dublin next week, where Farrell, who worked as defence coach under Schmidt since 2016, will gather his players as head coach for the first time across December 22nd and 23rd.
Yet despite naming a bumper 45-man squad, there is no place for Rob Kearney, Jack Carty, Sean Cronin or Jordi Murphy.
Suggestions that Farrell may look to shake up his team with some new faces are strengthened by the fact he has opted to include a number of uncapped players, with Caolin Blade, Will Connors, Caelan Doris, Max Deegan, Jamison Gibson-Park, Ronan Kelleher, Bully Burns, and Tom O’Toole all named.
There is also a call-up for Devin Toner, who was excluded from Ireland's 31-man World Cup squad. While there were questions surroundings Toner's international future following that shock omission, his inclusion next week suggests he remains part of Farrell's plans ahead of the 2020 Six Nations.
"The national coaches have been around the provinces watching games and having good conversations with players and the provincial coaches," Farrell said.
"We have limited opportunities across the busy provincial season to bring a broad group like this together but this 24hr window will allow us to plant a few seeds. It will also give the coaches a better insight into a few players who been performing consistently well for their provinces.
"The next six weeks is the window for players to put their hands up for selection for our first squad which will be named in late January ahead of the Six Nations."
Ireland squad for mid-season stocktake:
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Think we have to accept we have been on the slide for a while now.Still interesting to see the repeated media pieces about the myth of the ABs slipping-I would say slipped past tense.In part don’t we have to give credit for the improvement of other nations particularly Ireland?Isnt that good for the game?Are we beginning to feel the impact of losing the Boks from Super rugby and maybe soon TRC?I would agree we are also ran right now so will be interesting to see how we progress-assuming we do!Isnt that part of sport though to be in improvement mode?Back to the stats though I think the Boks were under 60% leading into 2019?Now with the focus on the RWC does it matter so much what you are doing between tournaments?You just get through your group(remembering the ABs qualified 2nd in 2023)and then you have 3 matches to win the thing.
Go to commentsThe ABs have more than enough back line guys so don’t see issue there. Just the balance at center and feel time for Rieko to sit out.Forwards- balance still not right. Front row ok but miss Codie. But still ok. Locks- you now need to start s a tall timber at middle of lineout- Darry is the right guy. Then move Sititi to 8, move Ardie to 7 and then move Vaai to blindside. He can become the closest to PSdT . Then have proper bench as this is not a demotion but key to dominating last 30 minutes- Patrick, Ofa etc are golden here. Get the balance right between starters and finishers
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