Ireland squad update: A dozen players released back to their provinces

Ireland have released a dozen players to their Guinness PRO14 provinces in the wake of their latest Six Nations defeat, Andy Farrell retaining just a 24-man panel for the two-day mini-camp on Thursday and Friday this week at the IRFU High Performance Centre at the Sport Ireland Campus.

Farrell is attempting to pick up the pieces following the worst start to a championship by Ireland since 1998 when back-to-back defeats in the opening two rounds of the old Five Nations resulted in the departure of Brian Ashton and the appointment of Warren Gatland, who had been coaching Connacht at the time.

Ireland were beaten in recent Six Nations weeks by Wales (16-21) and France (13-15), heaping pressure on the rookie head coach Farrell whose record in charge now reads Played 11: W6 L5.

Looking ahead to preparations for their February 27 match away to Italy, Ireland have opted to release a third of their squad back to the provinces to get in some game time before the Italian job. 

An IRFU statement read: "There were no additional injury concerns following the match against France and the players (Billy Burns, Cian Healy and Iain Henderson) who were removed for HIAs will follow the appropriate protocols this week.

"Twelve players are returning to their provincial bubbles to avail of game time in the Guinness PRO14 this weekend – Bundee Aki, Ultan Dillane, Dave Heffernan (Connacht), Ryan Baird, Ross Byrne, Jack Conan (Leinster), Craig Casey, Andrew Conway, Shane Daly, Chris Farrell (Munster) and Stuart McCloskey, Tom O’Toole (Ulster). The three players who provided specialist cover at the Aviva Stadium on Sunday – Harry Byrne, John Cooney and Eric O’Sullivan – have also returned to their respective provinces."

IRELAND SQUAD (2-day camp, February 17/18)

BACKS:

Billy Burns (Ulster) 5 caps

Keith Earls (Munster/Young Munster) 90 caps

Jamison Gibson-Park (Leinster) 7 caps

Robbie Henshaw (Leinster/Buccaneers) 49 caps

Hugo Keenan (Leinster/UCD) 8 caps

Jordan Larmour (Leinster/St Mary’s College) 26 caps

James Lowe (Leinster) 4 caps

Conor Murray (Munster/Garryowen) 88 caps

Garry Ringrose (Leinster/UCD) 32 caps

Jonathan Sexton (Leinster/St Mary’s College) 96 caps

Forwards:

Tadhg Beirne (Munster/Lansdowne) 19 caps

Ed Byrne (Leinster/UCD) 4 caps

Will Connors (Leinster/UCD) 7 caps

Tadhg Furlong (Leinster/Clontarf) 46 caps

Cian Healy (Leinster/Clontarf) 106 caps

Iain Henderson (Ulster/Academy) 60 caps

Rob Herring (Ulster/Ballynahinch) 18 caps

Ronan Kelleher (Leinster/Lansdowne) 8 caps

Dave Kilcoyne (Munster/UL Bohemians) 40 caps

Andrew Porter (Leinster/UCD) 34 caps

Rhys Ruddock (Leinster/St Mary’s College) 27 caps

James Ryan (Leinster/UCD) 33 caps

CJ Stander (Munster/Shannon) 48 caps

Josh van der Flier (Leinster/UCD) 30 caps

Returning to Provinces:

Bundee Aki (Connacht/Galwegians) 30 caps

Ryan Baird (Leinster/Dublin University) uncapped

Ross Byrne (Leinster/UCD) 12 caps

Craig Casey (Munster/Shannon) uncapped

Andrew Conway (Munster/Garryowen) 24 caps

Jack Conan (Leinster/Old Belvedere) 17 caps

Shane Daly (Munster/Cork Con) 1 cap

Ultan Dillane (Connacht/Corinthians) 18 caps

Chris Farrell (Munster/Young Munster) 14 caps

Dave Heffernan (Connacht/Buccaneers) 5 caps

Stuart McCloskey (Ulster/Bangor) 4 caps

Tom O’Toole (Ulster/Ballynahinch) uncapped