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One starter against Italy axed as Ireland reveal training squad to face the French
By Online Editors
Sean Cronin has paid a heavy price for his lineout troubles in Rome as the hooker has been left out the Ireland squad preparing to face France next Sunday.
The Leinster No2 was handed a rare start for his country when chosen to step in for Rory Best against Italy. However, the Irish set-piece out of touch failed to fire and he has now been excluded.
Elsewhere, there are call-ups for half-backs Kieran Marmion and Ross Byrne, but Robbie Henshaw definitely won’t feature after Joe Schmidt revealed the delayed identity on Wednesday morning of the 37 players he has with him in camp this week.
Henshaw hasn’t featured since a rare start at full-back in the Six Nations opener against England was compounded by the leg injury suffered in the build-up to the second match away to Scotland.
It wasn’t thought the injury would rule him out for a month, but that is what has transpired as the Leinster back will now miss his third Test match in succession.
(Continue reading below...)
An IRFU statement on Tuesday had signalled that there could be bad news about Henshaw’s availability. "Robbie Henshaw is improving more slowly than hoped and he will continue his rehab this week,” it read.
Also out of consideration is Dan Leavy, who continues to nurse an ankle issue, but Joey Carbery’s hopes of involvement are still up in the air.
Carbery, who has had a hamstring problem, is included in the squad but Schmidt has also called up Byrne to provide cover alongside Jack Carty, who earned his first cap as the sub out-half in the win over Italy.
Elsewhere, there is a return for the fit-again Marmion, the starting scrum-half in the November win over New Zealand.
IRELAND SQUAD (v France)
Forwards (21)
Rory Best (Banbridge/Ulster) 115 caps (c)
Tadhg Beirne (Lansdowne/Munster) 4 caps
Jack Conan (Old Belvedere/Leinster) 12 caps
Ultan Dillane (Corinthians/Connacht) 13 caps
Tadhg Furlong (Clontarf/Leinster) 31 caps
Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster) 86 caps
Iain Henderson (Queens University/Ulster) 43 caps
Rob Herring (Ballynahinch/Ulster) 7 caps
Dave Kilcoyne (UL Bohemians/Munster) 27 caps
Jack McGrath (St Marys College/Leinster) 54 caps
Jordi Murphy (Lansdowne/Ulster) 27 caps
Sean O’Brien (UCD/Leinster) 55 caps
Peter O’Mahony (Cork Constitution/Munster) 55 caps (vc)
Andrew Porter (UCD/Leinster) 13 caps
Quinn Roux (Galwegians/Connacht) 11 caps
Rhys Ruddock (Lansdowne/Leinster) 21 caps
James Ryan (UCD/Leinster) 15 caps
John Ryan (Cork Constitution/Munster) 17 caps
Niall Scannell (Dolphin/Munster) 12 caps
CJ Stander (Shannon/Munster) 29 caps
Josh van der Flier (UCD/Leinster) 16 caps
Backs (16)
Bundee Aki (Galwegians/Connacht) 15 caps
Ross Byrne (UCD/Leinster) 2 caps
Joey Carbery (Clontarf/Munster) 18 caps
Jack Carty (Buccaneers/Connacht) 1 cap
Andrew Conway (Garryowen/Munster) 11 caps
John Cooney (Terenure College/Ulster) 7 caps
Keith Earls (Young Munster/Munster) 75 caps
Chris Farrell (Young Munster/Munster) 5 caps
Tom Farrell (Coolmine/Connacht) 0 caps
Rob Kearney (UCD/Leinster) 89 caps
Jordan Larmour (St Mary’s College/Leinster) 11 caps
Kieran Marmion (Galwegians/Connacht) 24 caps
Conor Murray (Garryowen/Munster) 70 caps
Garry Ringrose (UCD/Leinster) 18 caps
Jonathan Sexton (St Marys College/Leinster) 81 caps (vc)
Jacob Stockdale (Lurgan/Ulster) 17 caps
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we need a damaging 12 that takes 2 men to tackle that will take pressure off the 10 while also creating space for the 10 and 13 . Leicester is the only guy that fits the mould . The next thing is " will he be able to develop a good offload " ? .
for 13 Joey manu has more x factor then reiko and jordie put togeather . he's got one season in japan before he looks to come home . he's a dark horse but his skill set is something the All Blacks don't have . if he comes home and lights up the npc in a game or 2 , id love to see him fast tracked and come off the bench for the All Blacks and thrown into the deep end to see if he can swim . Just to see if he's worth the time and effort to develop further . We all saw how good sualii did for the wallabies and joey manu is just as good as sualii . He's safe under the high ball , a solid defender , has a master offload , and he's fast and strong .
he fits the mould for razor's offload tactics .
Plus reiko and jordie have had the 12 & 13 for how long and I haven't seen anything special from either of them .
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