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Three familiar faces recalled as Ireland name 27-man mini-camp squad
By Liam Heagney
Andy Farrell has named a 27-man squad for this week’s two-day Ireland training camp, retaining 24 of the players included in the 37 named at the start of the Guinness Six Nations round three matchweek versus Italy and recalling three familiar names.
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Ireland went on to survive an Italian scare, eventually keeping their Grand Slam bid on track with a 34-20 Stadio Olimpico win, and head coach Farrell has now started plans for the round four Six Nations assignment away to Scotland on March 12 by confirming his fallow week training squad.
Tadhg Furlong, Robbie Henshaw and Jamison Gibson-Park have been called up after they missed all three of the Ireland matches so far in 2023 through injury, with Furlong’s return especially timely following the injury sustained by starting tighthead Finlay Bealham in Rome.
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The half-dozen backs omitted from last week’s squad are 37 were: Caolan Blade, Joey Carbery, Jack Crowley – who played off the bench in Italy, Jordan Larmour, Jamie Osborne and Jacob Stockdale.
In the pack, seven players were not asked back: Bealham, who is now injured, Gavin Coombes, Rob Herring, Scott Penney, Cian Prendergast, Rona Salanoa and Kieran Treadwell.
A statement read: “Andy Farrell and the Ireland coaching team have retained a group of 27 players to partake in a two-day mini-camp later this week which culminates in an open training session against Richie Murphy’s unbeaten Ireland U20s at the Aviva Stadium on Thursday morning. Finlay Bealham, who twisted his knee against Italy on Saturday, has been ruled out of the remainder of the championship. Bealham had started all three games in the campaign to date.
“Ireland captain Johnny Sexton is named in the group for the mini-camp, as is Garry Ringrose, who was a late withdrawal from the Italy game with a tight calf, and Robbie Henshaw, who is returning from injury.
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“Also included for this week’s camp are Jamison Gibson-Park (hamstring) and Tadhg Furlong (calf), neither of whom have featured to date in the 2023 Guinness Six Nations Championship. All four provinces are in URC action this weekend with a number of players released from the wider group to access game time.”
Ireland mini-camp squad
Backs (13):
Bundee Aki (Connacht/Galwegians) 44 caps
Ross Byrne (Leinster/UCD) 17 caps
Craig Casey (Munster/Shannon) 10 caps
Jamison Gibson-Park (Leinster) 23 caps
Mack Hansen (Connacht/Corinthians) 12 caps
Robbie Henshaw (Leinster/Buccaneers) 61 caps
Hugo Keenan (Leinster/UCD) 28 caps
James Lowe (Leinster) 18 caps
Stuart McCloskey (Ulster/Bangor) 12 caps
Conor Murray (Munster/Garryowen) 103 caps
Jimmy O’Brien (Leinster/Naas) 4 caps
Garry Ringrose (Leinster/UCD) 49 caps
Johnny Sexton (Leinster/St Mary’s College) 111 caps (c)
Forwards (14):
Ryan Baird (Leinster/Dublin University) 9 caps
Jack Conan (Leinster/Old Belvedere) 36 caps
Tadhg Furlong (Leinster/Clontarf) 63 caps
Caelan Doris (Leinster/St Mary’s College) 26 caps
Cian Healy (Leinster/Clontarf) 121 caps
Iain Henderson (Ulster/Academy) 71 caps
Ronan Kelleher (Leinster/Lansdowne) 20 caps
Dave Kilcoyne (Munster/UL Bohemians) 51 caps
Peter O’Mahony (Munster/Cork Constitution) 92 caps
Tom O’Toole (Ulster/Ballynahinch) 7 caps
Andrew Porter (Leinster/UCD) 51 caps
James Ryan (Leinster/UCD) 51 caps
Dan Sheehan (Leinster/Lansdowne) 15 caps
Josh van der Flier (Leinster/UCD) 48 caps
