Connacht scrum-half Caolin Blade and Leinster loosehead prop Michael Milne have joined the Ireland squad today as the group assembled this afternoon at the IRFU High Performance Centre in Dublin. Blade was capped against the USA in July 2021 while the uncapped Milne was part of the Emerging Ireland squad that competed in Bloemfontein in the Autumn. Jamison Gibson-Park and Cian Healy, who were both late withdrawals from the Wales game due to hamstring injuries, have been ruled out of contention for the France game. Tadhg Furlong, who is rehabbing a calf issue, is also not being considered for selection this week. Gibson Park, Healy and Furlong will continue their rehab programmes with the Ireland medical team. Johnny Sexton will complete the HIA process later today and Ronan Kelleher is due to return to training this week. Roman Salanoa and Tom Stewart who joined the squad last week have been retained for preparations ahead of Round 2 of the 2023 Guinness Six Nations Championships

Ireland Squad 2023 Guinness Six Nations - Round 2: 

Backs (18) Bundee Aki (Connacht/Galwegians) 42 caps Caolin Blade (Connacht/Galwegians) 1 cap Ross Byrne (Leinster/UCD) 15 caps Craig Casey (Munster/Shannon) 8 caps Jack Crowley (Munster/Cork Constitution) 2 caps Keith Earls (Munster/Young Munster) 98 caps Jamison Gibson Park (Leinster) 23 caps Mack Hansen (Connacht/Corinthians) 9 caps Hugo Keenan (Leinster/UCD) 26 caps Jordan Larmour (Leinster/St Marys College) 30 caps James Lowe (Leinster) 16 caps Stuart McCloskey (Ulster/Bangor) 10 caps Conor Murray (Munster/Garryowen) 101 caps Jimmy O’Brien (Leinster/Naas) 3 caps Jamie Osborne (Leinster/Naas) * Garry Ringrose (Leinster/UCD) 48 caps Johnny Sexton (Leinster/St Mary’s College) 110 caps (c) Jacob Stockdale (Ulster/Lurgan) 35 caps Forwards (23) Ryan Baird (Leinster/Dublin University) 8 caps Finlay Bealham (Connacht/Buccaneers) 28 caps Tadhg Beirne (Munster/Lansdowne) 37 caps Jack Conan (Leinster/Old Belvedere) 34 caps Gavin Coombes (Munster/Young Munster) 2 caps Caelan Doris (Leinster/St Mary’s College) 24 caps Tadhg Furlong (Leinster/Clontarf) 63 caps Cian Healy (Leinster/Clontarf) 121 caps Iain Henderson (Ulster/Academy) 69 caps Rob Herring (Ulster/Ballynahinch) 32 caps Ronan Kelleher (Leinster/Lansdowne) 18 caps Dave Kilcoyne (Munster/UL Bohemians) 49 caps Joe McCarthy (Leinster/Dublin University) 1 cap Michael Milne (Leinster/UCD) * Peter O’Mahony (Munster/Cork Constitution) 90 caps Tom O’Toole (Ulster/Ballynahinch) 5 caps Andrew Porter (Leinster/UCD) 49 caps Cian Prendergast (Connacht/Corinthians) 1 cap James Ryan (Leinster/UCD) 49 caps Roman Salanoa (Munster/Shannon) * Dan Sheehan (Leinster/Lansdowne) 14 caps Tom Stewart (Ulster/Ballynahinch) * Josh van der Flier (Leinster/UCD) 46 cap *denotes uncapped player

2023 Guinness Six Nations Fixtures:

IRELAND v France Saturday 11^th February 2023, KO 14:15 (IST) RTE TV / ITV / RTE Radio / BBC Radio Italy v IRELAND Saturday 25^th February 2023, KO 14:15 (IST) RTE TV / ITV / RTE Radio / BBC Radio Scotland v IRELAND Sunday 12^th March 2023, KO 15:00 (IST) RTE TV / BBC / RTE Radio / BBC Radio IRELAND v England Saturday 18^th March 2023, KO 17:00 (IST) VIRGIN / ITV / RTE Radio / BBC Radio