Henshaw nears potential Ireland return

Robbie Henshaw's return to the Irish ranks is moving ever closer after he was named in a preliminary 37-strong squad ahead of Sunday's Six Nations trip to Scotland.

Henshaw was part of a training camp last week after being out for a number of weeks with a wrist injury. He was not included in Andy Farrell's original squad for the Six Nations series.

The Ireland squad re-assembled last night ahead of the Round 4 Guinness Six Nations Championship fixture away to Scotland at BT Murrayfield on Sunday.

37 players will commence preparations for Gregor Townsend's Scotland team who have beaten England and Wales to date in this year’s Championship.

Gavin Coombes, Jack Crowley, Rob Herring, Jordan Larmour, Cian Prendergast, Roman Salanoa, Jacob Stockdale and Kieran Treadwell return having featured for their provinces in the URC at the weekend.

Nick Timoney and Ciaran Frawley are included in the squad for the first time during this Championship campaign. Timoney started the game against Fiji in November while Frawley picked up an injury playing for Ireland A against the All Blacks XV on the eve of the Autumn Nations Series.

Jamie Osborne and Scott Penny, who trained with the squad ahead of Round 3, are unavailable having picked up minor knocks playing for Leinster against Edinburgh at the weekend.

Ireland Squad Round 4– 2023 Guinness Six Nations Championships

Bundee Aki (Connacht/Galwegians) 44 caps

Ryan Baird (Leinster/Dublin University) 9 caps

Ross Byrne (Leinster/UCD) 17 caps

Craig Casey (Munster/Shannon) 10 caps

Jack Conan (Leinster/Old Belvedere) 36 caps

Gavin Coombes (Munster/Young Munster) 2 caps

Jack Crowley (Munster/Cork Constitution) 3 caps

Ciaran Frawley (Leinster/UCD) *

Tadhg Furlong (Leinster/Clontarf) 63 caps

Caelan Doris (Leinster/St Mary’s College) 26 caps

Jamison Gibson Park (Leinster) 23 caps

Mack Hansen (Connacht/Corinthians) 12 caps

Cian Healy (Leinster/Clontarf) 121 caps

Iain Henderson (Ulster/Academy) 71 caps

Robbie Henshaw (Leinster/Buccaneers) 61 caps

Rob Herring (Ulster/Ballynahinch) 33 caps

Hugo Keenan (Leinster/UCD) 28 caps

Ronan Kelleher (Leinster/Lansdowne) 20 caps

Dave Kilcoyne (Munster/UL Bohemians) 51 caps

Jordan Larmour (Leinster/St Marys College) 30 caps

James Lowe (Leinster) 18 caps

Stuart McCloskey (Ulster/Bangor) 12 caps

Conor Murray (Munster/Garryowen) 103 caps

Jimmy O’Brien (Leinster/Naas) 4 caps

Peter O’Mahony (Munster/Cork Constitution) 92 caps

Tom O’Toole (Ulster/Ballynahinch) 7 caps

Andrew Porter (Leinster/UCD) 51 caps

Cian Prendergast (Connacht/Corinthians) 1 cap

Garry Ringrose (Leinster/UCD) 49 caps

James Ryan (Leinster/UCD) 51 caps

Roman Salanoa (Munster/Shannon) *

Johnny Sexton (Leinster/St Mary’s College) 111 caps (c)

Dan Sheehan (Leinster/Lansdowne) 15 caps

Jacob Stockdale (Ulster/Lurgan) 35 caps

Nick Timoney (Ulster/Banbridge) 3 caps

Kieran Treadwell (Ulster/Ballymena) 10 caps

Josh van der Flier (Leinster/UCD) 48 caps