Eight Munster players included in Irish squad for Six Nations with recall for Gavin Coombes

Munster will be well represented at this year’s six nations with eight players included in Andy Farrell’s Irish squad.

The Ireland Men’s coaching team have named a 37 man squad for the upcoming Guinness Six Nations Championships which kicks off with an away trip to Cardiff on Saturday 4th February.

Eight Munster players have been selected: Tadhg Beirne, Craig Casey, Gavin Coombes, Jack Crowley, Keith Earls, Dave Kilcoyne, Conor Murray and Peter O’Mahony.

There are some notable absentees from the province with Joey Carbery missing out.

In Round 2, Ireland host France at the Aviva Stadium looking to secure their first victory over Fabien Galthie’s side since 2019.  There was just six points between the two sides last year in Paris and France emerged the victors when they last faced off in Dublin the previous year winning 15-13.

In the third round, Ireland travel to Rome to face a resurgent Italy who have recorded wins over Australia and Wales in the past year.

Round 4 sees the team in BT Murrayfield to face Gregor Townsend’s Scotland and six days later in the final game of the Championship, Ireland play host to England at the Aviva Stadium.

Andy Farrell's Ireland! 🟢#TeamOfUs | #GuinnessSixNations

— Irish Rugby (@IrishRugby) January 19, 2023

Both of Ireland’s home games against France and England are sold out and all of Ireland’s fixtures will be broadcast live on free-to-air television and radio across RTE, VIRGIN, BBC, ITV,  RTE Radio and BBC NI Radio.

Ireland finished second to France in last year’s Championship with four wins and five bonus points for a total of 21 points claiming the Triple Crown for the first time since 2018.

There is one uncapped player named in the squad, Leinster’s Jamie Osborne.  Osborne was first integrated into the senior squad in November 2021 as a development player and has since featured for Emerging Ireland and Ireland A.

Andy Farrell, Ireland head coach commented,

“The Six Nations is a huge competition for us and another opportunity for us to grow as group.  2022 was a busy year as we got to work with a larger group of players as we continued to build our squad depth and competition for places.

“While there are a few players carrying knocks and others that have missed out on selection for the start of the tournament, they will have the opportunity to push their case playing for their provinces in the URC over the coming weeks as no doubt we will need to call upon the wider group as the tournament progresses.”

Ireland Squad 2023 Guinness Six Nations

Backs (17)

• Bundee Aki (Connacht/Galwegians) 41 caps
• Ross Byrne (Leinster/UCD) 14 caps
• Craig Casey (Munster/Shannon) 7 caps
• Jack Crowley (Munster/Cork Constitution) 2 caps
• Keith Earls (Munster/Young Munster) 98 caps
• Jamison Gibson Park (Leinster) 23 caps
• Mack Hansen (Connacht) 8 caps
• Hugo Keenan (Leinster/UCD) 25 caps
• Jordan Larmour (Leinster/St Marys College) 30 caps
• James Lowe (Leinster) 15 caps
• Stuart McCloskey (Ulster/Bangor) 9 caps
• Conor Murray (Munster/Garryowen) 100 caps
• Jimmy O’Brien (Leinster/Naas) 3 caps
• Jamie Osborne (Leinster/Naas) *
• Garry Ringrose (Leinster/UCD) 47 caps
• Johnny Sexton (Leinster/St Mary’s College) 109 caps (c)
• Jacob Stockdale (Ulster/Lurgan) 35 caps

Forwards (20)

• Ryan Baird (Leinster/Dublin University) 8 caps
• Finlay Bealham (Connacht/Buccaneers) 27 caps
• Tadhg Beirne (Munster/Lansdowne) 36 caps
• Jack Conan (Leinster/Old Belvedere) 33 caps
• Gavin Coombes (Munster/Young Munster) 2 caps
• Caelan Doris (Leinster/St Mary’s College) 23 caps
• Tadhg Furlong (Leinster/Clontarf) 63 caps
• Cian Healy (Leinster/Clontarf) 121 caps
• Iain Henderson (Ulster/Academy) 68 caps
• Rob Herring (Ulster/Ballynahinch) 31 caps
• Ronan Kelleher (Leinster/Lansdowne) 18 caps
• Dave Kilcoyne (Munster/UL Bohemians) 48 caps
• Joe McCarthy (Leinster/Dublin University) 1 cap
• Peter O’Mahony (Munster/Cork Constitution) 89 caps
• Tom O’Toole (Ulster/Ballynahinch) 4 caps
• Andrew Porter (Leinster/UCD) 48 caps
• Cian Prendergast (Connacht/Corinthians) 1 cap
• James Ryan (Leinster/UCD) 48 caps
• Dan Sheehan (Leinster/Lansdowne) 13 caps
• Josh van der Flier (Leinster/UCD) 45 caps

*denotes uncapped player

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2023 Guinness Six Nations Fixtures

Wales v IRELAND

Saturday 4th February 2023, KO 14:15 (IST)

IRELAND v France

Saturday 11th February 2023, KO 14:15 (IST)

Italy v IRELAND

Saturday 25th February 2023, KO 14:15 (IST)

Scotland v IRELAND

Sunday 12th March 2023, KO 15:00 (IST)

IRELAND v England

Saturday 18th March 2023, KO 17:00 (IST)