Back to provincial duties.
Joe Schmidt has made his first two cuts from Ireland’s wider World Cup training squad.
The Kiwi has released Ulster hooker Rob Herring and Leinster centre Noel Reid.
The news was broken at Carton House by Irish skills and kicking coach Richie Murphy.
He told reporters, ‘[Trimming the squad] is in the process of happening. There’s two guys gone back to their provinces this week and over the next while, it’ll be an ongoing process.
‘We’re not here just to cut players and get rid of them. We’ll see how that is and when we feel we’re in a really good position guys will feed back to their clubs.’
Schmidt commented, on Saturday, that releasing a player back to his province does not necessarily mean they are out of contention for the tournament. Nonetheless, neither Herring nor Reid will look upon their release as a positive.
Murphy called the injury withdrawal [hip] of Tommy O’Donnell a ‘massive blow’ and had no significant update on rehabbing prop Cian Healy, other than the fact that he is still training with the squad.
