Furlong to miss the France Test as Ireland call in replacements

Ireland have confirmed that Tadhg Furlong will not be available for selection for the Francce Test in the second round of the Guinness Six Nations this coming weekend.

Furlong, who many consider the world's premier tighthead - is rehabbing a calf issue and is 'not being considered' for the crunch class that's been labelled an early Grand Slam decider.

Andy Farrell's Ireland side have called up Caolin Blade and Michael Milne to the squad. The pair come in as injury cover for Jamison Gibson-Park and Cian Healy, who were both late withdrawals from the Wales game due to hamstring injuries. Both now have been ruled out of selection contention for France.

The Blade and Milne have joined the Ireland squad today (Monday) as the group assembled this afternoon at the IRFU High Performance Centre in Dublin.

Johnny Sexton is also set to 'complete the HIA process later today' after passing a HIA 1 against Wales on Saturday.

Leinster hooker Ronan Kelleher is due to return to training this week.

"Roman Salanoa and Tom Stewart who joined the squad last week have been retained for preparations ahead of Round 2 of the 2023 Guinness Six Nations Championships."

UPDATED IRELAND SQUAD:

Backs (18)

Bundee Aki (Connacht/Galwegians) 42 caps

Caolin Blade (Connacht/Galwegians) 1 cap

Ross Byrne (Leinster/UCD) 15 caps

Craig Casey (Munster/Shannon) 8 caps

Jack Crowley (Munster/Cork Constitution) 2 caps

Keith Earls (Munster/Young Munster) 98 caps

Jamison Gibson Park (Leinster) 23 caps

Mack Hansen (Connacht/Corinthians) 9 caps

Hugo Keenan (Leinster/UCD) 26 caps

Jordan Larmour (Leinster/St Marys College) 30 caps

James Lowe (Leinster) 16 caps

Stuart McCloskey (Ulster/Bangor) 10 caps

Conor Murray (Munster/Garryowen) 101 caps

Jimmy O’Brien (Leinster/Naas) 3 caps

Jamie Osborne (Leinster/Naas) *

Garry Ringrose (Leinster/UCD) 48 caps

Johnny Sexton (Leinster/St Mary’s College) 110 caps (c)

Jacob Stockdale (Ulster/Lurgan) 35 caps

Forwards (23)

Ryan Baird (Leinster/Dublin University) 8 caps

Finlay Bealham (Connacht/Buccaneers) 28 caps

Tadhg Beirne (Munster/Lansdowne) 37 caps

Jack Conan (Leinster/Old Belvedere) 34 caps

Gavin Coombes (Munster/Young Munster) 2 caps

Caelan Doris (Leinster/St Mary’s College) 24 caps

Tadhg Furlong (Leinster/Clontarf) 63 caps

Cian Healy (Leinster/Clontarf) 121 caps

Iain Henderson (Ulster/Academy) 69 caps

Rob Herring (Ulster/Ballynahinch) 32 caps

Ronan Kelleher (Leinster/Lansdowne) 18 caps

Dave Kilcoyne (Munster/UL Bohemians) 49 caps

Joe McCarthy (Leinster/Dublin University) 1 cap

Michael Milne (Leinster/UCD) *

Peter O’Mahony (Munster/Cork Constitution) 90 caps

Tom O’Toole (Ulster/Ballynahinch) 5 caps

Andrew Porter (Leinster/UCD) 49 caps

Cian Prendergast (Connacht/Corinthians) 1 cap

James Ryan (Leinster/UCD) 49 caps

Roman Salanoa (Munster/Shannon) *

Dan Sheehan (Leinster/Lansdowne) 14 caps

Tom Stewart (Ulster/Ballynahinch) *

Josh van der Flier (Leinster/UCD) 46 cap