Donnacha Ryan included in squad to face England
Fit-again Donnacha Ryan is in line for his first Six Nations action this season after making the cut for Ireland’s training squad to prepare to face England.
Head coach Joe Schmidt has named a 33-man training group that will complete the final preparations for Ireland’s Six Nations clash against England at Twickenham on Saturday.
Leinster wing Luke Fitzgerald has not recovered from his hip problem, so will now miss the England trip.
Lock Ryan returned to Munster duty for the first time since December in Saturday’s 36-8 home RaboDirect PRO12 victory over Zebre, having fully recovered from knee surgery.
The 30-year-old’s timely return offsets the loss of Ulster’s Dan Tuohy with a broken arm, suffered in the 26-3 round two victory over Wales in Dublin.
Unbeaten Ireland take on England at Twickenham on Saturday, chasing their first Triple Crown since their 2009 Grand Slam.
Iain Henderson, Mike McCarthy and now Ryan will compete for a slot on the bench to cover the starting second row pair of captain Paul O’Connell and Devin Toner.
Schmidt’s extended squad shows few changes, save for the return of fit-again back-three operator Felix Jones, with wing Fergus McFadden and scrum-half Eoin Reddan also available again after injury.
Forwards: R Best, S Cronin, C Healy, J Heaslip, I Henderson, C Henry, D Kilcoyne, M McCarthy, J McGrath, M Moore, J Murphy, P O’Connell (c), T O’Donnell, P O’Mahony, M Ross, R Ruddock, D Ryan, D Toner.
Backs: I Boss, G D’Arcy, R Henshaw, P Jackson, F Jones, D Kearney, R Kearney, I Madigan, L Marshall, F McFadden, C Murray, B O’Driscoll, E Reddan, J Sexton, A Trimble.
