Ireland’s expected Six Nations squad contains a few surprises

Ireland were due to name their first Six Nations squad of the year on Friday. Then it was Sunday. Now it is Monday. Sense has prevailed.

There is little point tempting faith by naming a squad for the Scotland and Italy games [February 4 and 11] with three provinces involved in vital Champions Cup fixtures. Leinster will get some grilling in Castres, Munster need a win at Thomond to get a home quarter final and Connacht have the toughest task of all, in Toulouse. The bulk of Joe Schmidt's squad will get the texts and emails on Sunday but the Irish public will be let in on the full make-up 24 hours later. We then have 13 days to pine for the championship kick-off at Murrayfield. Given Ireland's relatively clean bill of health [injured quartet below], Schmidt is not expected to make a raft of changes from his November squad selections. There should be two uncapped players included but everyone else will be fully aware of the standards Schmidt and his coaching staff expect. Newbies As noted earlier this week, the most likely call-ups come from Munster. Sean Cronin is out for the tournament, Richardt Strauss is now battling with James Tracy for the Leinster No.2 jersey and Rob Herring has been quiet this season. Niall Scannell is in great for Munster and is a live option as deputy for Rory Best. Rory Scannell, his younger brother, trained with Ireland last November and is having an immense season. With no return date set for Jared Payne, the centre can provide competition to, and cover for, Robbie Henshaw. Handy at the drop goals, this lad. Returning players There could be as many as five faces familiar to Schmidt that are drafted in for another tour of rugby duty. Connacht's Matt Healy and Tiernan O'Halloran have been on fire this season and were not too bad last season either. With old Schmidt favourites Payne, Fergus McFadden and Dave Kearney either injured or coming back, Schmidt will need back three options ready to go. John Ryan is another Munster man in top form and could well get the shout for an extended training squad at the very least. James Tracy is another that could come in for some training reps with the senior squad. Jack Conan is more of an outside bet but he his fully fit and firing. Another good Champions Cup outing could see him make the cut. Schmidt seemed content to pass over Ulster centres in the November Series - where art thou Stuart Olding? - but Stuart McCloskey has been putting in the performances that merit a call-up. That final backline spot could well be between him and Scannell. The only area Ireland could find themselves short is scrum- and out-half. Luke McGrath should make the cut but it will be interesting to see if Ian Madigan [injured last November] gets summoned from France.

PREDICTED IRELAND SQUAD

Front row: Jack McGrath, Cian Healy, Dave Kilcoyne, Tadhg Furlong, Finlay Bealham, John Ryan, Rory Best, Niall Scannell, James Tracy. Second row: Devin Toner, Donnacha Ryan, Iain Henderson, Ultan Dillane, Billy Holland. Back row: CJ Stander, Josh van der Flier, Jamie Heaslip, Peter O'Mahony, Sean O'Brien, Jack Conan. Half backs: Kieran Marmion, Luke McGrath, Conor Murray, Johnny Sexton, Paddy Jackson. Centres: Robbie Henshaw, Garry Ringrose, Rory Scannell, Stuart McCloskey. Back three: Rob Kearney, Andrew Trimble, Simon Zebo, Keith Earls, Tiernan O'Halloran, Matt Healy.