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Ireland release 14 players for URC duty as 23-man fallow week squad named
By Kim Ekin
Andy Farrell has released 14 Ireland players back to their provinces for URC duty ahead of the Guinness Six Nations fallow weekend.
On Saturday France underlined their status as Six Nations favourites but had to hold on for a 30-24 win over Ireland at the Stade de France after having scored their opening try in just 70 seconds.
It was a second home win in a row for France, who beat Italy last Sunday, and they are now the only side who can complete this season's grand slam.
The Ireland squad returned from Paris on Sunday afternoon and a group of 23 players will re-assemble on Thursday for a two day mini-camp at the IRFU HPC on the Sport Ireland Campus.
Two of the players - Jack Carty and Cian Healy - were involved in the matchday 23 in Paris. Johnny Sexton will continue to rehab from his hamstring injury.
Farrell has also released Dave Heffernan (Connacht), Ryan Baird, Jordan Larmour (Leinster), Craig Casey, Gavin Coombes, Dave Kilcoyne (Munster) and Robert Baloucoune, James Hume, Michael Lowry, Tom O’Toole, Nick Timoney, Kieran Treadwell (Ulster) back to their provinces.
Elsewhere Ulster hooker Rob Herring will re-join the squad for the mini-camp having been ruled out of the opening two rounds with a calf issue.
"Ronan Kelleher’s shoulder issue will be further investigated this week by the medical team. Johnny Sexton will continue his hamstring rehab and return to rugby programme this week," concluded the statement.
Ireland 23-man Mini-Camp Training Squad
Bundee Aki (Connacht/Galwegians) 35 caps
Finlay Bealham (Connacht/Buccaneers) 20 caps
Tadhg Beirne (Munster/Lansdowne) 27 caps
Joey Carbery (Munster/Clontarf) 29 caps
Jack Conan (Leinster/Old Belvedere) 24 caps
Andrew Conway (Munster/Garryowen) 29 caps
Caelan Doris (Leinster/St Mary’s College) 14 caps
Tadhg Furlong (Leinster/Clontarf) 54 caps
Jamison Gibson Park (Leinster) 14 caps
Mack Hansen (Connacht) 2 caps
Iain Henderson (Ulster/Academy) 66 caps
Robbie Henshaw (Leinster/Buccaneers) 54 caps
Rob Herring (Ulster/Ballynahinch) 23 caps
Hugo Keenan (Leinster/UCD) 18 caps
Ronan Kelleher (Leinster/Lansdowne) 18 caps
Conor Murray (Munster/Garryowen) 94 caps
Peter O’Mahony (Munster/Cork Constitution) 81 caps
Andrew Porter (Leinster/UCD) 42 caps
Garry Ringrose (Leinster/UCD) 39 caps
James Ryan (Leinster/UCD) 42 caps
Johnny Sexton (Leinster/St Mary’s College) 102 caps
Dan Sheehan (Leinster/Lansdowne) 4 caps
Josh van der Flier (Leinster/UCD) 37 caps
Released to Provinces for URC Fixtures
Robert Baloucoune (Ulster/Enniskillen) 2 caps
Ryan Baird (Leinster/Dublin University) 7 caps
Jack Carty (Buccaneers/Connacht) 11 caps
Craig Casey (Munster/Shannon) 4 caps
Gavin Coombes (Munster/Young Munster) 2 caps
Cian Healy (Leinster/Clontarf) 114 caps
Dave Heffernan (Connacht/Buccaneers) 6 caps
James Hume (Ulster/Banbridge) 2 caps
Jordan Larmour (Leinster/St Mary’s College) 30 caps
Michael Lowry (Ulster/Banbridge) uncapped
Dave Kilcoyne (Munster/UL Bohemians) 45 caps
Tom O’Toole (Ulster/Ballynahinch) 2 caps
Nick Timoney (Ulster/Banbridge) 2 caps
Kieran Treadwell (Ulster/Ballymena) 3 caps
- additional reporting AAP
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Skelton may be brought back for the Wallabies so that would be the only reason that may hinder Wilson. Easily the form, most skilful and game IQ of any Oz 8. Valentini’s best and favourite position is 6, but lineouts may be an issue with Skelton, Valentini and Wilson. Will be interesting what Schmidt goes for but for me Wilson should be picked on form. Schmidt rewards work rate, skill and consistency. All that glitters every so often won’t be in contention. Greely is one of those players that has a knack of making the right decision. A coach is going to love him because he knows week in week out he’s going to get the job done. The second try Greely wasn’t the guy who made the initial break it was Flook, Greely was at the bottom of the ruck when Flook was off along the sideline. Greely got up and made the effort to catch up with play but also read the play nicely and hit the pass from Campbell at pace and then held the pass beautifully to Ryan.
Go to commentsSharks deserved to be far further back by the last quarter. Their tackling was awful, their set pieces were disappointing, their defensive organization was poor (especially on the Kok side of the D line), they kept making unnecessary errors, and they never looked like cracking the Clermont defense during those first 60m. Masuku kept them in touch, with some help from the Clermont generosity on penalty opportunities. Agree with the writer of this article. It was belligerence, and ability to raise their pressure game just enough, that turned the last quarter into a Bok-style shutout. Clermont have a reputation of not playing the full 80m, and there was a bit of that for sure. But, quite often when the intensity of a team drops off in the last quarter credit is due to the opponent for tiring them out. At 60m, with the Kok try, you thought that just maybe the game was on. At 70m, with the Mapimpi contribution, one felt that Clermont were fading, while facing a team that would maintain the pressure game through the final whistle. Good win in the end, but the Sharks are still playing way below their potential. And with their resources, and a coach that has had enough time to figure things out, they are running out of excuses.
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