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Ireland add two forwards to their squad to face France
By Liam Heagney
Ireland have added two players - Leinster pair Jack Conan and Ed Byrne - to their squad ahead of next Sunday's round two Guinness Six Nations clash with France in Dublin following last Sunday's loss to Wales in Cardiff.
It was also confirmed that Peter O'Mahony, the back row who was red-carded in the opening round defeat, will appear before an independent disciplinary hearing later on Tuesday.
Ireland also have injury concerns surrounding skipper Johnny Sexton and James Ryan, who were both taken off during the Six Nations game in Cardiff.
An IRFU statement issued on Tuesday morning read: "Johnny Sexton and James Ryan will go through the graduated return to play protocols this week. Peter O’Mahony will have a Six Nations disciplinary hearing today following the red card received at the weekend.
"Jack Conan has joined the group at the IRFU’s high performance centre today and Ryan Baird will again train with the Ireland squad this week.
"Ed Byrne, who provided additional front row cover for the trip to Cardiff, has also remained with the squad. Gavin Coombes has returned to train with Munster after spending some time with the national squad last week." Byrne, 27, earned three caps off the bench during the autumn but had been left out of Farrell's original squad for the Six Nations and while his name wasn't mentioned in the lead-up to last Sunday's game, he is now officially part of the squad.
Conan, meanwhile, hasn't been capped during the Farrell era, the 28-year-old winning his last cap in the September 2019 World Cup win over Scotland in Yokohama. The Leinster No8 picked up a broken foot injury in that game which ended his finals campaign and he didn't get the chance to play last year, his autumn Test level availability after his provincial return disrupted by a neck issue.
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Latest Comments
It is if he thinks he’s got hold of the ball and there is at least one other player between him and the ball carrier, which is why he has to reach around and over their heads. Not a deliberate action for me.
Go to commentsI understand, but England 30 years ago were a set piece focused kick heavy team not big on using backs.
Same as now.
South African sides from any period will have a big bunch of forwards smashing it up and a first five booting everything in their own half.
NZ until recently rarely if ever scrummed for penalties; the scrum is to attack from, broken play, not structured is what we’re after.
Same as now.
These are ways of playing very ingrained into the culture.
If you were in an English club team and were off to Fiji for a game against a club team you’d never heard of and had no footage of, how would you prepare?
For a forward dominated grind or would you assume they will throw the ball about because they are Fijian?
A Fiji way. An English way.
An Australian way depends on who you’ve scraped together that hasn’t been picked off by AFL or NRL, and that changes from generation to generation a lot of the time.
Actually, maybe that is their style. In fact, yes they have a style.
Nevermind. Fuggit I’ve typed it all out now.
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