Ireland Squad Named To Complete 2020 Guinness Six Nations Championship

The squad, which will be captained by Jonathan Sexton, contains six uncapped players – Ryan Baird, Ed Byrne, Will Connors, Shane Daly, Hugo Keenan and Jamison Gibson-Park.

While Baird and Connors have been involved in national camps before, it will be a first time with the national squad for the other uncapped players. Daly and Keenan have both spent time in the Ireland Sevens squad and have built on this experience to secure starting berths for their provinces.

In addition, Harry Byrne, Craig Casey, James Lowe, James Tracy and Fineen Wycherley will train with the squad next week at IRFU High Performance Centre in Dublin.

Ireland take on Italy at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday, October 24, before facing France in Paris the following Saturday, Halloween night.

Ireland currently sit fourth in the Six Nations table, one point behind Scotland and four behind England and France, who have all played an extra game. Back in February, Ireland recorded wins over Scotland (19-12) and Wales (24-12) before losing to England (24-12) at Twickenham.

Ireland head coach Andy Farrell commented: “There has been a huge effort right across Irish Rugby to ensure that the professional game could return safely and that work is greatly appreciated by the national management.

We have protocols in place to safeguard the welfare of the players and staff and are looking forward to completing the Six Nations. We have two competitions to play in over the coming months but will focus first on a strong finish to the Six Nations.

“The return to rugby has not been without its challenges as some players have suffered injury setbacks and there’s been limited playing opportunities ahead of a busy and exciting international window.  We will be closely monitoring the form and fitness of players competing in the PRO14 over the coming weeks.”

Ireland Squad (2020 Guinness Six Nations Championship): 

Player/Club/Province/Caps –

Backs (16):

Bundee Aki (Galwegians/Connacht) 26
Ross Byrne (UCD/Leinster) 6
Jack Carty (Buccaneers/Connacht) 10
Andrew Conway (Garryowen/Munster) 21
Shane Daly (Cork Constitution/Munster) *
Chris Farrell (Young Munster/Munster) 9
Jamison Gibson-Park (Leinster) *
Robbie Henshaw (Buccaneers/Leinster) 43
Hugo Keenan (UCD/Leinster) *
Jordan Larmour (St. Mary’s College/Leinster) 24
Kieran Marmion (Galway Corinthians/Connacht) 27
Stuart McCloskey (Bangor/Ulster) 3
Conor Murray (Garryowen/Munster) 81
Garry Ringrose (UCD/Leinster) 29
Jonathan Sexton (St. Mary’s College/Leinster) (capt) 91
Jacob Stockdale (Lurgan/Ulster) 28

Forwards (19):

Ryan Baird (Dublin University/Leinster) *
Finlay Bealham (Buccaneers/Connacht) 9
Tadhg Beirne (Lansdowne/Munster) 13
Ed Byrne (UCD/Leinster) *
Will Connors (UCD/Leinster) *
Jack Conan (Old Belvedere/Leinster) 17
Caelan Doris (UCD/Leinster) 2
Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster) 98
Dave Heffernan (Buccaneers/Connacht) 1
Iain Henderson (Academy/Ulster) 55
Rob Herring (Ballynahinch/Ulster) 11
Ronan Kelleher (Lansdowne/Leinster) 3
Peter O’Mahony (Cork Constitution/Munster) 67
Andrew Porter (UCD/Leinster) 26
Quinn Roux (Galwegians/Connacht) 12
James Ryan (UCD/Leinster) 26
John Ryan (Cork Constitution/Munster) 21
CJ Stander (Shannon/Munster) 41
Josh van der Flier (UCD/Leinster) 26

Training with the squad week commencing October 12:

Harry Byrne (Lansdowne/Leinster) *
Craig Casey (Shannon/Munster) *
James Lowe (Leinster) *
James Tracy (UCD/Leinster) 6
Fineen Wycherley (Young Munster/Munster) *

* Denotes uncapped player