Ireland head coach Andy Farrell has retained a squad of 27 players for a two-day mini training camp in the Aviva Stadium in preparation for Sunday week’s Six Nations Championship match against Scotland at Murrayfield.
The knee injury sustained by Finlay Bealham in the first half in Rome has ruled him out of the remainder of the tournament. The Connacht prop had started every match in the Six Nations to date in Tadhg Furlong’s absence.
Furlong along with Ireland captain Johnny Sexton, Garry Ringrose, Robbie Henshaw, Jamison Gibson-Park have all been named and are expected to take a full part in training. The camp will culminate with a live practice against Richie Murphy’s unbeaten Irish under-20s will provide opposition in a controlled match environment.
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Sexton (leg) limped off in the victory over France while Ringrose (calf) was a late withdrawal ahead of the win in Rome. Furlong’s last appearance for Ireland was against Australia in November, his most recent outing being 36 minutes off the bench for Leinster against Ulster on the first weekend in December.
Gibson-Park (hamstring) hasn’t played since the final pool match in the Heineken Champions Cup against Racing 92 on January 21st. He withdrew on the morning of Ireland’s opening Six Nations game against Wales in the Principality Stadium earlier this month.
Henshaw underwent surgery to repair a wrist issue and he too hasn’t played for Farrell’s side since a four-minute cameo against Fiji the week before the Wallabies game. Rob Herring completed his return to play protocols in the wake of failing a HIA and being taken off during the France match.
He travelled to Rome as part of a posse of additional squad members, so too Cian Healy (hamstring), who also took part of the pregame warm-up at the Stadio Olimpico. Herring is one of a number of players that have been released back to the four provinces to access game time in this weekend’s United Rugby Championship (URC) fixtures.
Jack Crowley is the only member of the Ireland match day 23 from Rome. The Munster outhalf got four minutes at the end of the match when coming on the replace Ross Byrne and is one of four players returning to the province alongside Joey Carbery, Gavin Coombes and Roman Salanoa for a game against the Scarlets in Cork.
Leinster will have Jordan Larmour, Scott Penny and Jamie Osborne for a trip to Edinburgh, scrumhalf Caolin Blade and Cian Prendergast return to Connacht, while Jacob Stockdale and Kieran Treadwell will be available to Ulster coach Dan McFarland.
The Irish 20s, are also unbeaten after victories against Wales, France and their most recent beating Italy in Treviso. Murphy’s side will face Scotland at Scotstoun stadium on Friday week (7.15pm, live on RTÉ) hoping to continue to chase down a second successive Grand Slam following last year’s success.
Scotland lost narrowly to England (41-36) – the latter lead the table by a point after three bonus-point victories and will visit Musgrave Park in the final round of fixtures – beat Wales (18-17) but were thumped 54-12 by France.
Ireland Squad Mini Camp – 2023 Guinness Six Nations Championship: Bundee Aki (Connacht), Ryan Baird (Leinster), Ross Byrne (Leinster), Craig Casey (Munster), Jack Conan (Leinster), Tadhg Furlong (Leinster), Caelan Doris (Leinster), Jamison Gibson-Park (Leinster), Mack Hansen (Connacht), Cian Healy (Leinster), Robbie Henshaw (Leinster), Iain Henderson (Ulster), Hugo Keenan (Leinster), Ronan Kelleher (Leinster), Dave Kilcoyne (Munster), James Lowe (Leinster), Stuart McCloskey (Ulster), Conor Murray (Munster), Jimmy O’Brien (Leinster), Peter O’Mahony (Munster), Tom O’Toole (Ulster), Andrew Porter (Leinster), Garry Ringrose (Leinster), James Ryan (Leinster), Johnny Sexton (Leinster)(capt), Dan Sheehan (Leinster), Josh van der Flier (Leinster).
