Ireland leave out Rob Kearney in 45-man training squad
Rob Kearney played 95 Tests for Ireland between 2007 and 2019
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Incoming Ireland head coach Andy Farrell has left out experienced fullback Rob Kearney from the 45-member training squad.
Kearney, who has played 95 Tests for Ireland and another three for the British and Irish Lions was the preferred fullback under previous coach Joe Schmidt but now misses out on the selection along with Jack Carty, Sean Cronin and Jordi Murphy while Johnny Sexton has been included despite having injury concerns.
The squad will participate in 24-hour mid-season stocktake at IRFU's High-Performance Centre also features a number of uncapped players including Jamison Gibson-Park, Billy Burns, Tom O'Toole. Burns qualifies to play for Ireland through paternal grandparent and has been part of Ulster since 2018.
The squad sees 19 players from Leinster along with 12 from Munster and nine from Ulster with Connacht players forming the rest.
“The national coaches have been around the provinces watching games and having good conversations with players and the provincial coaches," said Farrell.
“We have limited opportunities across the busy provincial season to bring a broad group like this together but this 24 hour window will allow us to plant a few seeds. It will also give the coaches a better insight into a few players who been performing consistently well for their provinces.
“The next six weeks is the window for players to put their hands up for selection for our first squad which will be named in late January ahead of the Six Nations.”
Ireland squad:
Connacht: Bundee Aki, Caolin Blade, Ultan Dillane, Dave Heffernan, Quinn Roux
Leinster: Ross Byrne, Will Connors, Max Deegan, Caelan Doris, Tadhg Furlong, Jamison Gibson-Park, Cian Healy, Robbie Henshaw, Dave Kearney, Ronan Kelleher, Jordan Larmour, Luke McGrath, Andrew Porter, Garry Ringrose, Rhys Ruddock, James Ryan, Jonathan Sexton, Devin Toner, Josh van der Flier
Munster: Joey Carbery, Andrew Conway, Keith Earls, Chris Farrell, Mike Haley, Dave Kilcoyne, Jean Kleyn, Conor Murray, Peter O’Mahony, Niall Scannell, Rory Scannell, CJ Stander
Ulster: Will Addison, Billy Burns, John Cooney, Iain Henderson, Rob Herring, Stuart McCloskey, Marty Moore, Tom O’Toole, Jacob Stockdale
