Ireland release Craig Casey, Bundee Aki and 11 more back to provinces

Patrick McCarry

Craig Casey is the only member of the match-day squad from the win over Italy to go back to his province.

The IRFU has confirmed that Andy Farrell is has retained 23 players from his wider Six Nations squad and released the other 13 back to their provinces.

Casey, who made his debut off the bench in Ireland’s 48-10 win, has been released back to Munster along with teammates Chris Farrell, Shane Daly and Andrew Conway. Conor Murray, who missed the France and Italy games, has been retained in the 23-man panel for the two day mini-camp on Thursday and Friday at the IRFU High Performance Centre.

Craig Casey and Ryan Baird after their Ireland debuts against Italy. (Credit: Sportsfile)

Ryan Baird, who also made his Ireland debut at the weekend, has been retained along with 14 other Leinster teammates. Jordan Larmour (hip), Ronan Kelleher (ankle) and Tadhg Furlong (ankle) will stick around too, despite all picking up knocks against Italy.

With two inter-provincial games coming up, on Friday and Saturday, the provincial panels will welcome back the senior stars and, no doubt, put them to work.

Connacht are away to Munster on Friday night so Andy Friend will be grateful to get Bundee Aki, Ultan Dillane and Dave Heffernan back into his ranks.

Elsewhere, Leinster get back the quartet of Ed Byrne, Ross Byrne, Rhys Ruddock and Josh van der Flier. Ulster are getting Stuart McCloskey and Tom O’Toole back for their Saturday game against the champions.

IRELAND SQUAD FOR TWO-DAY CAMP

Backs

Billy Burns (Ulster) 6 caps
Keith Earls (Munster/Young Munster) 91 caps
Jamison Gibson Park (Leinster) 8 caps
Robbie Henshaw (Leinster/Buccaneers) 50 caps
Hugo Keenan (Leinster/UCD) 9 caps
Jordan Larmour (Leinster/St Mary’s College) 27 caps
James Lowe (Leinster) 5 caps
Conor Murray (Munster/Garryowen) 88 caps
Garry Ringrose (Leinster/UCD) 33 caps
Jonathan Sexton (Leinster/St Mary’s College) 97 caps

Forwards

Ryan Baird (Leinster/Dublin University) 1 cap
Tadhg Beirne (Munster/Lansdowne) 20 caps
Jack Conan (Leinster/Old Belvedere) 18 caps
Will Connors (Leinster/UCD) 8 caps
Tadhg Furlong (Leinster/Clontarf) 47 caps
Cian Healy (Leinster/Clontarf) 107 caps
Iain Henderson (Ulster/Academy) 61 caps
Rob Herring (Ulster/Ballynahinch) 19 caps
Ronan Kelleher (Leinster/Lansdowne) 9 caps
Dave Kilcoyne (Munster/UL Bohemians) 41 caps
Andrew Porter (Leinster/UCD) 35 caps
James Ryan (Leinster/UCD) 34 caps
CJ Stander (Munster/Shannon) 49 caps

Returning to Provinces

Bundee Aki

Bundee Aki (Connacht/Galwegians) 30 caps
Ed Byrne (Leinster/UCD) 4 caps
Ross Byrne (Leinster/UCD) 12 caps
Craig Casey (Munster/Shannon) 1 cap
Andrew Conway (Munster/Garryowen) 24 caps
Shane Daly (Munster/Cork Con) 1 cap
Ultan Dillane (Connacht/Corinthians) 18 caps
Chris Farrell (Munster/Young Munster) 14 caps
Dave Heffernan (Connacht/Buccaneers) 5 caps
Stuart McCloskey (Ulster/Bangor) 4 caps
Tom O’Toole (Ulster/Ballynahinch) uncapped
Rhys Ruddock (Leinster/St Mary’s College) 27 caps
Josh van der Flier (Leinster/UCD) 30 caps