JOE SCHMIDT HAS trimmed his squad down to 43 men for this week’s Guinness Summer Series opener against Italy.

Both Ultan Dillane and Rory Scannell have returned to provincial duties with Connacht and Munster respectively, as Schmidt’s side return to their Maynooth training base after completing five weeks of pre-season training.

Ireland take on Conor O’Shea’s Italy at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday afternoon in the first of four warm-up games ahead of the Rugby World Cup.

They will fly to Portugal on Wednesday 14 August for an eight-day warm-weather training camp at Quinta do Lago in the Algarve.

Next Ireland take on England at Twickenham on 24 August ahead of two meetings with Wales — in Cardiff on 31 August and in Dublin on 7 September.

Ireland squad vs Italy

Forwards (23)

Finlay Bealham (Buccaneers/Connacht) 9 caps

Rory Best (Banbridge/Ulster) 117 caps

Tadhg Beirne (Lansdowne/Munster) 5 caps

Jack Conan (Old Belvedere/Leinster) 14 caps

Sean Cronin (St Mary’s College/Leinster) 68 caps

Tadhg Furlong (Clontarf/Leinster) 33 caps

Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster) 88 caps

Iain Henderson (Queens University/Ulster) 44 caps

Rob Herring (Ballynahinch/Ulster) 7 caps

Dave Kilcoyne (UL Bohemians/Munster) 29 caps

Jean Kleyn (Munster) 0 caps

Jack McGrath (St Marys College/Leinster) 54 caps

Jordi Murphy (Lansdowne/Ulster) 27 caps

Tommy O’Donnell (UL Bohemians/Munster) 12 caps

Peter O’Mahony (Cork Constitution/Munster) 57 caps

Andrew Porter (UCD/Leinster) 14 caps

Rhys Ruddock (Lansdowne/Leinster) 21 caps

James Ryan (UCD/Leinster) 17 caps

John Ryan (Cork Constitution/Munster) 18 caps

Niall Scannell (Dolphin/Munster) 14 caps

CJ Stander (Shannon/Munster) 31 caps

Devin Toner (Lansdowne/Leinster) 64 caps

Josh van der Flier (UCD/Leinster) 17 caps

Backs (20)

Will Addison (Enniskillen/Ulster) 3 caps

Bundee Aki (Galwegians/Connacht) 17 caps

Ross Byrne (UCD/Leinster) 2 caps

Joey Carbery (Clontarf/Munster) 18 caps

Jack Carty (Buccaneers/Connacht) 3 caps

Andrew Conway (Garryowen/Munster) 12 caps

John Cooney (Terenure College/Ulster) 8 caps

Keith Earls (Young Munster/Munster) 77 caps

Chris Farrell (Young Munster/Munster) 5 caps

Mike Haley (Munster) 0 caps

Robbie Henshaw (Buccaneers/Leinster) 37 caps

Dave Kearney (Lansdowne/Leinster) 17 caps

Rob Kearney (UCD/Leinster) 90 caps

Jordan Larmour (St Mary’s College/Leinster) 13 caps

Kieran Marmion (Galwegians/Connacht) 25 caps

Luke McGrath (UCD/Leinster) 10 caps

Conor Murray (Garryowen/Munster) 72 caps

Garry Ringrose (UCD/Leinster) 20 caps

Jonathan Sexton (St Marys College/Leinster) 83 caps

Jacob Stockdale (Lurgan/Ulster) 19 caps

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