IRELAND HEAD COACH Andy Farrell has included six uncapped players in his 35-man squad for the rescheduled final two rounds of the 2020 Six Nations as out-half Johnny Sexton retains the captaincy.

Leinster’s 21-year-old second row Ryan Baird, loosehead prop Ed Byrne, scrum-half Jamison Gibson-Park, fullback/wing Hugo Keenan, openside flanker Will Connors, and Munster fullback Shane Daly will all be hoping to win their first caps.

As reported yesterday, Ulster’s John Cooney is among those to miss out on making the Ireland squad, with Farrell preferring Conor Murray, the returning Kieran Marmion, and Gibson-Park as his scrum-half picks.

Marmion’s Connacht halfback partner, Jack Carty, has also earned a recall to the Ireland set-up as one of the out-half options alongside Johnny Sexton and Ross Byrne as Ulster’s Billy Burns misses out.

Tadhg Furlong, Keith Earls, Will Addison, Dave Kilcoyne, and Tom O’Toole are among those who weren’t available due to injuries.

Farrell has also named Munster scrum-half Craig Casey, Leinster out-half Harry Byrne, Leinster hooker James Tracy, and Munster lock Fineen Wycherley as additional players to train with his squad next week, while the uncapped James Lowe – who only qualifies to play for Ireland in early November – will also be in that additional group of players.

Ireland face Italy in Dublin on 24 October in the first of their rescheduled 2020 Six Nations games before a trip to take on France on 31 October.

They will kick off their Autumn Nations Cup campaign with a home tie against Wales on Friday 13 November, with that clash followed by a visit to Twickenham to face England, a home meeting with Georgia, then a play-off game at the Aviva Stadium on 5 December.

Farrell will name a squad for the Autumn Nations Cup closer to that competition kicking off.

Ireland squad:

Loosehead props: Cian Healy, Ed Byrne

Hookers: Rob Herring, Rónan Kelleher, Dave Heffernan

Tighthead props: Andrew Porter, John Ryan, Finlay Bealham

Locks: Iain Henderson, James Ryan, Quinn Roux, Tadhg Beirne, Ryan Baird

Back rows: CJ Stander, Peter O’Mahony, Josh van der Flier, Jack Conan, Caelan Doris, Will Connors

Scrum-halves: Conor Murray, Kieran Marmion, Jamison Gibson-Park

Out-halves: Johnny Sexton (captain), Ross Byrne, Jack Carty

Centres: Bundee Aki, Garry Ringrose, Robbie Henshaw, Chris Farrell, Stuart McCloskey

Back threes: Andrew Conway, Jacob Stockdale, Jordan Larmour, Shane Daly, Hugo Keenan

Additional training players for week commencing 12 October: Craig Casey, Harry Byrne, James Lowe, James Tracy, Fineen Wycherley.

Bernard Jackman and Murray Kinsella break down Andy Farrell’s latest 35-man Ireland squad and welcome the news that Joe Schmidt is back in the game:

The42 Rugby Weekly / SoundCloud