Ireland Coach Declan Kidney has announced a 39 man squad for the forthcoming RBS 6 Nations Championship which begins for Ireland when they take on France in Croke Park in just over two weeks time.
The squad basically includes everyone ever to play rugby in the last six months. There are few absentees and even less surprises.
The exclusion of Ian Humphreys from the senior squad is a shocker seeing as he is actually getting game time at 10 as opposed to Wallace and Sexton who have been chosen ahead of him.
The squad announced sends out a message that Kidney sees this six nations as winnable. Seeing as England are building for the World Cup, Wales and France appear to be the only real opposition worth worrying about.
The squad includes seven uncapped players such as Cian Healy and Ryan Caldwell, with Ulster centre Darren Cave making his first appearance in a senior squad. The panel also includes Leinster’s Gordon D’Arcy who made a welcome return recently to playing following a long term arm injury. Leo Cullen, Tony Buckley, Neil Best and Roger Wilson were not considered for inclusion in the senior squad due to either injury or suspension.
Ireland Coach Declan Kidney said, “We want to continue to develop a panel and bringing in 39 players allows to us to work with the players on this basis. As well as bringing the players through the systems of the team, it allows for the usual knocks the players might pick up. The core group of players who were part of the November squad have maintained their form but it is also pleasing to be able to bring in players who are really developing this season like Darren Cave and Tom Court as well as more established players who have performed well over the last number of weeks”.
A nine man A team panel of players has also been selected by the Ireland Management which includes Ulster’s Ian Humphreys, Leinster backrow Sean O’Brien and Connacht’s Sean Cronin. This panel will be supplemented by players from the senior panel for the A game against the England Saxons on the eve of the France game which is being played in Donnybrook Stadium and will be live on RTE TV. The senior squad for the France game and the squad for the A game will be announced at the end of the first week of camp on Friday, 30th January. Both teams will be announced on Tuesday, the 3rd of February.
Commenting on the A panel announced, Declan Kidney said, “The A games are important in building our panel and exposing as many players to international level games. Players will benefit from this opportunity and it allows us to track their progress. At the same time we will continue to monitor all of the other Irish qualified players who have been playing consistently well in the Magners League and the European competitions.”
Speaking overall about the tournament, Kidney said, “The RBS 6 Nations Championship is one of, if not the best annual international tournaments in the world and a great sporting occasion in Ireland. The Guinness Series in November was mission accomplished from a ranking point of view and the win against Argentina, although not the prettiest game anybody may have seen, was vitally important. The France game is another step above that as they can bring so much to their game and are incredibly dangerous in this tournament. The players focus for the first week will be to set the foundations for the tournament and after that, the only focus we will have will be on our opening game against France.”
Ireland Squad, RBS 6 Nations Championship 2009
Backs:
Tommy Bowe (Ospreys)
Ian Dowling (Shannon – Munster)*
Girvan Dempsey (Terenure College – Leinster)
Darren Cave (Belfast Harlequins – Ulster)*
Gordon D’Arcy (Lansdowne – Leinster)
Keith Earls (Young Munster – Munster)
Luke Fitzgerald (Blackrock College – Leinster)
Shane Horgan (Boyne – Leinster)
Robert Kearney (UCD – Leinster)
Geordan Murphy (Leicester)
Brian O’Driscoll (UCD – Leinster)
Ronan O’Gara (Cork Constitution – Munster)
Tomas O’Leary (Dolphin – Munster)
Eoin Reddan (Wasps)
Jonathan Sexton (St. Mary’s College – Leinster)*
Peter Stringer (Shannon – Munster)
Andrew Trimble (Ballymena – Ulster)
Paddy Wallace (Ballymena – Ulster)
Forwards:
Rory Best (Banbridge – Ulster)
Ryan Caldwell (Dungannon – Ulster)*
Bob Casey (London Irish)
Tom Court (Ballymena – Ulster)*
Stephen Ferris (Dungannon – Ulster)
Jerry Flannery (Shannon – Munster)
John Hayes (Bruff- Munster)
Cian Healy (Clontarf – Leinster)*
Jamie Heaslip (Naas – Leinster)
Marcus Horan (Shannon – Munster)
Bernard Jackman (Clontarf – Leinster)
Shane Jennings (St. Mary’s College – Leinster)
Denis Leamy (Cork Constitution – Munster)
Donncha O’Callaghan (Cork Constitution – Munster)
Paul O’Connell (Young Munster – Munster)
Mick O’Driscoll (Cork Constitution – Munster)
Malcolm O’Kelly (St.Mary’s College – Leinster)
Alan Quinlan (Shannon – Munster)
Mike Ross (Harlequins)*
Donnacha Ryan (Shannon – Munster)
David Wallace (Garryowen – Munster)
A Team Panel
Isaac Boss (Ballymena – Ulster)
Sean Cronin (Buccaneers -Connacht)
Gavin Duffy (Galwegians – Connacht)
Ian Humphreys (Ballymena – Ulster)
Keith Matthews (Buccaneers – Connacht)
John Muldoon (Galwegians – Connacht)
Sean O’Brien (Clontarf – Leinster)
Neil Best (Northampton)
John Andress (Exeter)
RUGBY GRAPHIC COURTESY OF THE IRFU
