LEINSTER LOCK RYAN Baird has joined Ireland’s Six Nations squad for the early part of their training week as Andy Farrell’s men continue preparations for their scheduled clash with France in Paris on 14 March.
20-year-old Baird underlined his promise again last weekend for Leinster, scoring a hat-trick in an impressive performance in the province’s strong Guinness Pro14 win over Glasgow at the RDS.
The former Ireland U20 international, a product of St Michael’s College in Dublin, was also with Farrell’s squad in the build-up to their Six Nations opener against Scotland, travelling with the group to a training camp in Portugal.
Baird is now part of a 35-man group that will train at the IRFU’s high performance centre at the Sport Ireland Campus this week, with the hope being that their planned fixture against France goes ahead.
Connacht’s Ultan Dillane and Dave Heffernan will join the squad later today after travelling to South Africa with their province for yesterday’s Pro14 win over the Southern Kings.
Cian Healy’s Six Nations is over due to the hip injury he suffered against England last time out, but Farrell has not added another loosehead prop to the squad in his place.
Ulster’s Will Addison, who has been suffering with a calf issue throughout the Six Nations, is also missing from this latest squad.
Ireland’s clash with Italy that had been schedule to take place in Dublin on Saturday 7 March was postponed last week due to fears about the spread of the coronavirus.
Ireland’s 35-man Six Nations squad:
Looseheads [2]: Dave Kilcoyne, Jack McGrath
Hookers [3]: Rob Herring, Dave Heffernan, Ronan Kelleher
Tightheads [3]: Tadhg Furlong, Andrew Porter, Tom O’Toole
Locks [5]: James Ryan, Iain Henderson, Devin Toner, Ultan Dillane, Ryan Baird
Back rows [7]: Josh van der Flier, CJ Stander, Jack O’Donoghue, Peter O’Mahony, Caelan Doris, Max Deegan, Will Connors
Scrum-halves [3]: John Cooney, Conor Murray, Luke McGrath
Out-halves [3]: Johnny Sexton (captain), Ross Byrne, Billy Burns
Centres [4]: Bundee Aki, Robbie Henshaw, Chris Farrell, Stuart McCloskey
Back threes [5]: Jordan Larmour, Jacob Stockdale, Andrew Conway, Keith Earls, Dave Kearney.
