Ireland call up three uncapped players

Editor

The Ireland coaching group have named a 40-man squad for the opening two rounds of the 2017 Six Nations.

The squad includes three uncapped players from Munster – brothers Niall and Rory Scannell, plus Andrew Conway.

Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt commented: “It has been good to watch the players over the past two months and great to see many of them doing so well.

“As always there were some difficult decisions but we feel that the group is a good mix with a number of key players having good experience and a number of newer players having gained valuable experience and confidence during the summer tour to South Africa and the recent November series.”

Ireland squad for the Six Nations

Forwards: Finlay Bealham, Rory Best (c), Jack Conan, Ultan Dillane, Tadhg Furlong, Cian Healy, Jamie Heaslip, Iain Henderson, Billy Holland, Dave Kilcoyne, Dan Leavy, Jack McGrath, Sean O’Brien, Tommy O’Donnell, Peter O’Mahony, Donnacha Ryan, John Ryan, Niall Scannell, CJ Stander, Devin Toner, James Tracy, Josh van der Flier

Backs: Tommy Bowe, Andrew Conway, Keith Earls, Craig Gilroy, Robbie Henshaw, Paddy Jackson, Rob Kearney, Kieran Marmion, Luke Marshall, Stuart McCloskey, Luke McGrath, Conor Murray, Tiernan O’Halloran, Garry Ringrose, Rory Scannell, Jonathan Sexton, Andrew Trimble, Simon Zebo