Ireland’s new coaching team have confirmed the 45 players that will attend a 24-hour get together over the 22nd and 23rd of December at the IRFU’s High Performance Centre.
Leinster have a total of 19 players that have been asked to attend, while Munster have 12 representatives, Ulster nine and Connacht five.
There are some newcomers in the squad with Leinster’s impressive youngsters so far this season are represented through Will Connors, Max Deegan, Caelan Doris and Ronan Kelleher. While they also have scrum-half Jamison Gibson-Park included after completing his 3-year residency in the country and becoming eligible and Devin Toner has been recalled after missing out on the Rugby World Cup.
Meanwhile, high-flying Ulster have half-back partners Billy Burns and John Cooney included with the latter being touted as a starter during the upcoming Six Nations campaign following a blistering start to the season.
Speaking on the selection new head coach Andy Farrell has encouraged all the players to keep pushing forward over the next while as he considers his squad for the Six Nations.
“The national coaches have been around the provinces watching games and having good conversations with players and the provincial coaches. We have limited opportunities across the busy provincial season to bring a broad group like this together but this 24-hour window will allow us to plant a few seeds. It will also give the coaches a better insight into a few players who been performing consistently well for their provinces. The next six weeks is the window for players to put their hands up for selection for our first squad which will be named in late January ahead of the 6 Nations,” he said.
While there is some excitement about the young players and newcomers in the squad there are some noticeable absentees with the likes of Rob Kearney, Sean Cronin and Tadhg Beirne not among the names on the list.
All will be hoping to impress in the small window as they also hope to continue on the pitch with their provinces over the coming weeks.
Check Out the Full 45-Player List Below.
Leinster:
Ross Byrne, Will Connors, Max Deegan, Caelan Doris, Tadhg Furlong, Jamison Gibson-Park, Cian Healy, Robbie Henshaw, Dave Kearney, Rónan Kelleher, Jordan Larmour, Luke McGrath, Andrew Porter, Garry Ringrose, Rhys Ruddock, James Ryan, Jonathan Sexton, Devin Toner, Josh van der Flier
Connacht:
Bundee Aki, Caolin Blade, Ultan Dillane, Dave Heffernan, Quinn Roux
Munster:
Joey Carbery, Andrew Conway, Keith Earls, Chris Farrell, Mike Haley, Dave Kilcoyne, Jean Kleyn, Conor Murray, Peter O’Mahony, Niall Scannell, Rory Scannell, CJ Stander
Ulster:
Will Addison, Billy Burns, John Cooney, Iain Henderson, Rob Herring, Stuart McCloskey, Marty Moore, Tom O’Toole, Jacob Stockdale
