Ireland Squad for RBS 6 Nations Named

…The Ireland Squad line up before kick off

Ireland Coach Eddie O’Sullivan has named a 35 man Ireland squad for the 2007 RBS 6 Nations Championship which begins for Ireland with an away trip to Wales in the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff on February 4th. There are six players who come into the squad after missing out on the 32 man squad that was named for the Guinness Autumn series.

…Barry Murphy in action – his dynamic performances for Munster have earned him a call up to the Ireland squad…

In the backs, Ulster wing Tommy Bowe returns to the Ireland squad after missing out due to a hamstring injury and is joined by uncapped Munster centre Barry Murphy. The other player is Leinster’s Robert Kearney, whose good form over the last number of weeks has seen him included.

In the forwards, Munster hooker Jerry Flannery returns from his shoulder injury which saw him miss out last year and is joined in the squad by Munster secondrow Mick O’Driscoll. Leinster secondrow Trevor Hogan is named for the first time in an Ireland squad for an RBS 6 Nations Championship after winning two caps against Japan in 2005.

…Rob Kearney’s scintillating form for Leinster has earned him a place in the Ireland squad for the RBS 6 Nations…

Stephen Ferris is the only player who was not considered due to his ongoing recovery from a hand injury. Munster backrow Alan Quinlan was not considered due to suspension.

Eddie O’Sullivan on selecting the squad: The championship is a long and hard tournament that that will always test your resources, so I felt that we needed to increase our squad to 35 to give us some extra cover. We have a good injury profile at the moment and with the return of players from injury, such as Tommy Bowe and Jerry Flannery as well as the other additions to the squad, it will push up the competition levels.

While there are not many changes from November, the squad is always selected on form and this group reflects that.

Eddie O’Sullivan on the Autumn International Series: The Championship is our bread and butter tournament and is the one where we always want to do well in. We were pleased with how the Guinness Autumn Series went, but this tournament is a step up and we will have to raise our performances another level.

An away trip to the Millennium stadium to play Wales is one of the toughest openings you could get at this moment in time and all we will be focusing on is trying to get the right performance against an excellent Welsh team.

Ireland Squad:

Forwards (18):
Neil Best (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster)
Rory Best (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster)
Simon Best (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster)
Simon Easterby (Llaneli)
Jerry Flannery (Shannon/Munster)
Keith Gleeson (St.Mary’s College/Leinster)
John Hayes (Bruff/Munster)
Jamie Heaslip (Clontarf/Leinster)
Trevor Hogan (Shannon/Leinster)
Marcus Horan (Shannon/Munster)
Denis Leamy (Cork Constitution/Munster)
Donncha O’Callaghan (Cork Constitution/Munster)
Paul O’Connell (Young Munster/Munster)
Mick O’Driscoll (Cork Constitution/Munster)
Malcolm O’Kelly (St.Mary’s College/Leinster)
Frankie Sheahan (Cork Constitution/Munster)
David Wallace (Garryowen/Munster)
Bryan Young (Ballymena/Ulster)

Backs (17):
Isaac Boss (Ballymena/Ulster)
Tommy Bowe (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster)
Girvan Dempsey (Terenure College/Leinster)
Gordon D’Arcy (Lansdowne/Leinster)
Luke Fitzgerald (Blackrock College/Leinster)
Shane Horgan (Lansdowne/Leinster)
Denis Hickie (St.Mary’s College/Leinster)
Robert Kearney (UCD/Leinster)
John Kelly (Cork Constitution/Munster)
Barry Murphy (U.L. Bohemians/Munster)
Geordan Murphy (Leicester)
Brian O’Driscoll (Blackrock College/Leinster)
Ronan O’Gara (Cork Constitution/Munster)
Eoin Reddan (Wasps)
Peter Stringer (Shannon/Munster)
Andrew Trimble (Ballymena/Ulster)
Paddy Wallace (Ballymena/Ulster)

Not considered due to injury:
Stephen Ferris (Dungannon/Ulster) {Hand}

Not considered due to suspension:
Alan Quinlan (Shannon/Munster)

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