Ireland rugby coach Declan Kidney has named a provisional, 44 strong, squad for the 2010 RBS Six Nations championship as he bids to continue his 100% record in the tournament.
There are a total of nine uncapped players named for the training camp including Ulster pair Declan Fitzpatrick and Dan Tuohy who will join their provincial teammate Rory Best and Munster's Marcus Horan who return from the injuries which ruled them out of the November Tests.
Speaking at the press conference on Tuesday, Kidney outlined why he continued to name uncapped players:
"Building a squad has always been a priority for us and the work done during the first half of the season means there is a little more experience accumulated in the squad then we had a couple of months ago."
The players will link-up at a training camp in Limerick next week following the conclusion of the Heineken and Amlin Challenge Cup group stages this weekend.
The reigning Grand Slam champions' first encounter in defence of the trophy will be against Italy in Croke Park on February 6th.
However, the Azzuri are not the only opposition on Kidney's mind and he admits he has named a squad to look ahead to next years World Cup in New Zealand: "We had three main considerations, with the most important being the opening game against Italy, followed by the A games and further down the line with the Rugby World Cup."
Next Tuesday Kidney will name the 'A' squad to face the England Saxons on January 29th and those featuring may get a second opportunity to stake a claim for the senior setup by impressing against Scotland 'A' on February 5th the day prior to the Tournaments kick-off.
IRELAND SQUAD IN FULL:
Rory Best (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster)
Isaac Boss (Ballymena/Ulster)
Tommy Bowe (Ospreys)
Tony Buckley (Shannon/Munster)
Tom Court (Malone/Ulster)
Sean Cronin (Buccaneers/Connacht)
Leo Cullen (Blackrock College/Leinster)
Gordon D'Arcy (Lansdowne/Leinster)
Ian Dowling (Shannon/Munster)
Keith Earls (Young Munster/Munster)
Stephen Ferris (Dungannon/Ulster)
Declan Fitzpatrick (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster)*
Jerry Flannery (Shannon/Munster)
John Fogarty (De La Salle Palmerston/Leinster)*
John Hayes (Bruff/Munster)
Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster)
Jamie Heaslip (Naas/Leinster)
Chris Henry (Ballymena/Ulster)*
Marcus Horan (Shannon/Munster)
Shane Horgan (Boyne/Leinster)
Denis Hurley (Cork Constitution/Munster)
Shane Jennings (St.Mary's College/Leinster)
Robert Kearney (UCD/Leinster)
Fergus McFadden (UCD/Leinster)*
Kevin McLaughlin (UCD/Leinster)*
Johne Murphy (Leicester)*
Donncha O'Callaghan (Cork Constitution/Munster)
Paul O'Connell (Young Munster/Munster)
Mick O'Driscoll (Cork Constitution/Munster)
Brian O'Driscoll (UCD/Leinster)
Ronan O'Gara (Cork Constitution/Munster)
Tomas O'Leary (Dolphin/Munster)
Sean O'Brien (Clontarf/Leinster)
Eoin Reddan (Lansdowne/Leinster)
Mike Ross (Clontarf/Leinster)
Donnacha Ryan (Shannon/Munster)
Jonathan Sexton (St.Mary's College/Leinster)
Peter Stringer (Shannon/Munster)
Devin Toner (Lansdowne/Leinster)*
Andrew Trimble (Ballymena/Ulster)
Dan Touhy (Ballymena/Ulster)*
David Wallace (Garryowen/Munster)
Paddy Wallace (Ballymena/Ulster)
Brett Wilkinson (Galwegians/Connacht)*
*Denotes uncapped player
No comments:
Post a Comment