Joe Schmidt has named a 38-man Ireland squad for the first two rounds of the Six Nations.
Among them are three uncapped players - all from Connacht.
Centre Tom Farrell, out-half Jack Carty and scrum-half Caolin Blade all get the nod, while Carty's inclusion comes at the expense of Ross Byrne.
Congratulations to Jack Carty, Caolin Blade & Tom Farrell - 3 uncapped players named in the Ireland Squad.
Joe Schmidt - "It’s a great opportunity for Caolin Blade to get into camp and compete for a spot."#TeamOfUs #Ireland #ShoulderToShoulder #GuinnessSixNations pic.twitter.com/jwS2xXPNe7
— Irish Rugby (@IrishRugby) 16 January 2019
There's no place for Leinster's Dan Leavy, but Schmidt says the Leinster flanker will likely return when fully fit.
Ireland have two home matches this year against both England and France, as the boys in green hope to defend the crown they won on St. Patrick's Day in London last year.
Here's the fixture list:
February 2nd v England (h)
February 9th v Scotland (a)
February 24th v Italy (a)
March 10th v France (h)
March 16th v Wales (a)
Here's the full squad for the first two rounds of fixtures:
Forwards (21)
Rory Best (Ulster/Banbridge) 113 caps Captain
Tadhg Beirne (Munster/Lansdowne) 4 caps
Jack Conan (Leinster/Old Belvedere) 11 caps
Sean Cronin (Leinster/St Mary's College) 65 caps
Ultan Dillane (Connacht/Corinthians) 11 caps
Tadhg Furlong (Leinster/Clontarf) 28 caps
Cian Healy (Leinster/Clontarf) 84 caps
Iain Henderson (Ulster/Queens University) 42 caps
Dave Kilcoyne (Munster/UL Bohemians) 24 caps
Jack McGrath (Leinster/St Marys College) 53 caps
Jordi Murphy (Ulster/Lansdowne) 26 caps
Sean O'Brien (Leinster/UCD) 52 caps
Peter O'Mahony (Munster/Cork Constitution) 52 caps (vc)
Andrew Porter (Leinster/UCD) 11 caps
Rhys Ruddock (Leinster/St Mary's College) 21 caps
James Ryan (Leinster/UCD) 13 caps
John Ryan (Munster/Cork Constitution) 16 caps
Niall Scannell (Munster/Dolphin) 11 caps
CJ Stander (Munster/Shannon) 28 caps
Devin Toner (Leinster/Lansdowne) 63 caps
Josh van der Flier (Leinster/UCD) 13 caps
Backs (17)
Will Addison (Ulster/Enniskillen) 3 caps
Bundee Aki (Connacht/Galwegians) 12 caps
Caolin Blade (Connacht/Galwegians) 0 caps
Joey Carbery (Munster/Clontarf) 16 caps
Jack Carty (Connacht/Buccaneers) 0 caps
Andrew Conway (Munster/Garryowen) 10 caps
John Cooney (Ulster/Terenure College) 4 caps
Keith Earls (Munster/Young Munster) 72 caps
Chris Farrell (Munster/Young Munster) 3 caps
Tom Farrell (Connacht/TBC) 0 caps
Robbie Henshaw (Leinster/Buccaneers) 36 caps
Rob Kearney (Leinster/UCD) 87 caps
Jordan Larmour (Leinster/St Mary's College) 9 caps
Conor Murray (Munster/Garryowen) 67 caps
Garry Ringrose (Leinster/UCD) 17 caps
Jonathan Sexton (Leinster/St Marys College) 78 caps (vc)
Jacob Stockdale (Ulster/Ballynahinch) 14 caps
