Four big picks in our expected 45-man Ireland training squad for World Cup

Even with these extra picks, there will be some real quality players left out.

Picking an Ireland squad, even with a bunch of additional options, is harder than ever.

On Tuesday, Andy Farrell will announce a 45-man training squad for the 2023 World Cup. Yes, Munster may have won the United Rugby Championship on Sunday but we are already looking ahead to next season.

While the players will be taking holidays and resting their bodies up, rugby fans and media will be mulling over the picks and omissions from that Farrell squad. With such a large number of players being announced, it will be hard to see others from outside that set getting call-ups closer to the tournament, Crucially, though, Ireland will not be locked into any of of these picks when it comes to the official announcement.

We took a look at what Ireland will require for the training camps, and the positions they may overload in. To give you an idea of how stacked Ireland are, players such as Max Deegan, James Hume, Mike Haley, Ciaran Frawley, Dave Heffernan, Ed Byrne, Shane Daly, Conor Oliver and Harry Byrne all miss out.

Our Ireland training squad picks

When it comes to picking his Ireland squad for the training camp, kicking off in mid July, Andy Farrell will go with extra prop, hooker and back row selections.

In thew long run, the likes of Cian Healy, Andrew Porter, Ryan Baird, Iain Henderson, Keith Earls and Jimmy O’Brien will be vital when the squad is cut from 45 to 33 players for final World Cup squad selection.

This is our selection, with educated guesses [or perhaps personal bias!] on Jean Kleyn, Scott Penny, Cian Prendergast and Jamie Osborne.

PREDICTED IRELAND SQUAD

LOOSEHEAD: Andrew Porter, Cian Healy, Dave Kilcoyne, Jeremy Loughman

HOOKER: Rónan Kelleher, Dan Sheehan, Rob Herring, Tom Stewart

TIGHTHEAD: Tadhg Furlong, Finlay Bealham, Tom O’Toole, Roman Salanoa

SECOND ROW: Tadhg Beirne, James Ryan, Ryan Baird, Iain Henderson, Joe McCarthy, Jean Kleyn

BACK ROW: Peter O’Mahony, Josh van der Flier, Caelan Doris, Jack Conan, Gavin Coombes, Cian Prendergast, Scott Penny

SCRUM-HALF: Jamison Gibson-Park, Conor Murray, Craig Casey

OUT-HALF: Johnny Sexton, Jack Crowley, Ross Byrne, Joey Carbery

CENTRES: Bundee Aki, Garry Ringrose, Robbie Henshaw, Stuart McCloskey

BACK THREE: Mack Hansen, James Lowe, Jimmy O’Brien, Hugo Keenan, Calvin Nash, Keith Earls, Jamie Osborne, Jacob Stockdale, Jordan Larmour

We will be across the Ireland squad selection on SportsJOE on Tuesday. Hit us up on our social media channels to let us know who you would love to see selected.

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