8 Ulstermen named in squad for Ireland's first two 6 Nations games

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Joe Schmidt's men are away to Scotland in their opening match

Rory Best has been selected to captain

Eight Ulstermen in total have made the cut for Ireland's squad for rounds 1 and 2 of the Six Nations.

Joe Schmidt's men travel to Edinburgh on Saturday February 4th, before a showdown with Italy in Rome the following Saturday.

Rory Best continues as captain, with fellow forward Iain Henderson also in the list of names.

Backs Tommy Bowe, Craig Gilroy, Paddy Jackson, Luke Marshall, Stuart McCloskey, Andrew Trimble also make the forty-man lineup.

Three uncapped players are in the mix.

Munster hooker Niall Scannell is included - as is his brother and club team-mate Rory, who mainly plays at centre.

Back Andrew Conway - who also plays for the same province - completes the uncapped trio - while fly-half Jonathan Sexton is involved despite picking up a calf injury at the weekend.

 

 

Ireland Head Coach Joe Schmidt says, "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 autumn series.”
 
The details of Ireland's open training sessions will be made known in the near future.

Forwards (22)


Finlay Bealham (Buccaneers/Connacht) 6 caps
Rory Best (Banbridge/Ulster) (c) 100 caps
Jack Conan (Old Belvedere/Leinster) 1 cap
Ultan Dillane (Corinthians/Connacht) 8 caps
Tadhg Furlong (Clontarf/Leinster) 11 caps
Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster) 62 caps
Jamie Heaslip (Dublin University/Leinster) (vc) 91 caps
Iain Henderson (Ballynahinch/Ulster) 28 caps
Billy Holland (Cork Constitution/Munster) 1 cap
Dave Kilcoyne (UL Bohemians/Munster) 17 caps
Dan Leavy (UCD/Leinster) 1 cap
Jack McGrath (St. Mary's College/Leinster) 36 caps
Sean O'Brien (UCD/Leinster) 44 caps
Tommy O'Donnell (UL Bohemians/Munster) 12 caps
Peter O'Mahony (Cork Con/Munster) 37 caps
Donnacha Ryan (Shannon/Munster) 43 caps
John Ryan (Cork Constitution/Munster) 1 cap
Niall Scannell (Dolphin/Munster) uncapped
CJ Stander (Munster) 10 caps
Devin Toner (Lansdowne/Leinster) 42 caps
James Tracy (UCD/Leinster) 1 cap
Josh van der Flier (UCD/Leinster) 5 caps
 
Backs (18)
 
Tommy Bowe (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster) 67 caps
Andrew Conway (Munster) uncapped
Keith Earls (Young Munster/Munster) 54 caps
Craig Gilroy (Bangor/Ulster) 9 caps
Robbie Henshaw (Buccaneers/Leinster) 24 caps
Paddy Jackson (Dungannon/Ulster) 19 caps
Rob Kearney (UCD/Leinster) 72 caps
Kieran Marmion (Corinthians/Connacht) 9 caps
Luke Marshall (Ballymena/Ulster) 9 caps
Stuart McCloskey (Ballynahinch/Ulster) 1 cap
Luke McGrath (UCD/Leinster) 1 cap
Conor Murray (Garryowen/Munster) 53 caps
Tiernan O'Halloran (Buccaneers/Connacht) 3 caps
Garry Ringrose (UCD/Leinster) 3 caps
Rory Scannell (Dolphin/Munster) uncapped
Jonathan Sexton (St Mary's College/Leinster) 63 caps
Andrew Trimble (Ballymena/Ulster) 69 caps
Simon Zebo (Cork Con/Munster) 28 caps

 

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