Henshaw omitted from Six Nations squad

Athlone's Robbie Henshaw has not been named in Ireland's 37-man squad for the upcoming Guinness Six Nations Championships which kicks off with an away trip to Cardiff on Saturday, February 4.

Henshaw had been facing a race against time to be fit for Ireland's opener v Wales following a wrist injury and although it is a big surprise that he has been entirely omitted from the squad for the five-game tournament, it is still possible he could be added ahead of games later in the series.

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.

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 cap

*denotes uncapped player

2023 Guinness Six Nations Fixtures

Wales v IRELAND

Saturday 4th February

IRELAND v France

Saturday 11th February

Italy v IRELAND

Saturday 25th February

Scotland v IRELAND

Sunday 12th March

IRELAND v England

Saturday 18th March