Squad Update | Coombes, Casey and Kilcoyne return to Munster as Ireland release 23 players to the provinces

The Munster players will be in contention for this weekend’s URC clash.

The Ireland squad returned from Paris on Sunday afternoon and a group of 23 players will re-assemble on Thursday for a two day mini-camp at the IRFU HPC on the Sport Ireland Campus.

The rest of the pack will return to their provinces with three Munster players heading back to Limerick to prepare for Friday’s clash with Edinburgh.

Those are Craig Casey, Gavin Coombes and Dave Kilcoyne who are yet to feature in either Six Nations matchday squad.

Four Munster men will remain in the mini-camp with Tadhg Beirne and Andrew Conway starting both games thus far while Conor Murray and Peter O’Mahony have appeared from the bench.

In total, 14 players have been released to their provinces to be available for selection in URC fixtures this weekend – Jack Carty, Dave Heffernan (Connacht), Ryan Baird, Cian Healy, Jordan Larmour (Leinster), Robert Baloucoune, James Hume, Michael Lowry, Tom O’Toole, Nick Timoney, Kieran Treadwell (Ulster) and the Munster trio.

Ulster’s Rob Herring will re-join the squad for the mini-camp having been ruled out of the opening two rounds of the Guinness Six Nations Championship with a calf issue.

Ronan Kelleher’s shoulder issue will be further investigated this week by the medical team. Johnny Sexton will continue his hamstring rehab and return to rugby programme this week.

Ireland Mini-Camp Training Squad:

Bundee Aki (Connacht/Galwegians) 35 caps
Finlay Bealham (Connacht/Buccaneers) 20 caps
Tadhg Beirne (Munster/Lansdowne) 27 caps
Joey Carbery (Munster/Clontarf) 29 caps
Jack Conan (Leinster/Old Belvedere) 24 caps
Andrew Conway (Munster/Garryowen) 29 caps
Caelan Doris (Leinster/St Mary’s College) 14 caps
Tadhg Furlong (Leinster/Clontarf) 54 caps
Jamison Gibson Park (Leinster) 14 caps
Mack Hansen (Connacht) 2 caps
Iain Henderson (Ulster/Academy) 66 caps
Robbie Henshaw (Leinster/Buccaneers) 54 caps
Rob Herring (Ulster/Ballynahinch) 23 caps
Hugo Keenan (Leinster/UCD) 18 caps
Ronan Kelleher (Leinster/Lansdowne) 18 caps
Conor Murray (Munster/Garryowen) 94 caps
Peter O’Mahony (Munster/Cork Constitution) 81 caps
Andrew Porter (Leinster/UCD) 42 caps
Garry Ringrose (Leinster/UCD) 39 caps
James Ryan (Leinster/UCD) 42 caps
Johnny Sexton (Leinster/St Mary’s College) 102 caps
Dan Sheehan (Leinster/Lansdowne) 4 caps
Josh van der Flier (Leinster/UCD) 37 caps

Released to Provinces for URC Fixtures

Robert Baloucoune (Ulster/Enniskillen) 2 caps
Ryan Baird (Leinster/Dublin University) 7 caps
Jack Carty (Buccaneers/Connacht) 11 caps
Craig Casey (Munster/Shannon) 4 caps
Gavin Coombes (Munster/Young Munster) 2 caps
Cian Healy (Leinster/Clontarf) 114 caps
Dave Heffernan (Connacht/Buccaneers) 6 caps
James Hume (Ulster/Banbridge) 2 caps
Jordan Larmour (Leinster/St Mary’s College) 30 caps
Michael Lowry (Ulster/Banbridge) uncapped
Dave Kilcoyne (Munster/UL Bohemians) 45 caps
Tom O’Toole (Ulster/Ballynahinch) 2 caps
Nick Timoney (Ulster/Banbridge) 2 caps
Kieran Treadwell (Ulster/Ballymena) 3 caps.