Ireland Six Nations 2019
Ireland will begin preparations for the 2019 Six Nations with a weeklong training camp in Portugal before returning to Carton House next weekend to prepare for England’s visit in week one of the competition.
Tadgh Beirne picked up a knee injury in the 2nd half of Munster’s 9-7 win over Exeter Chiefs at the weekend but should be back in contention for the round 3 visit to Rome. Quinn Roux will travel to Portugal in Beirne’s place.
A few other players will stay in Ireland and prepare for this weekend’s Pro 14 action like Rob Kearney and Jack Mc Grath. Andrew Conway will also stay behind and prepare for the England game having picked up a knock in the Exeter game. He should be back in contention to fight for a place in the 23.
Ireland will go into this year’s campaign after the 4 Irish provinces advanced in the Champions Cup and Challenge Cup , Ulster face Leinster in late March in Dublin ,Munster will head to Edinburgh and Connacht will take on familiar foes Sale Sharks in the Challenge Cup quarter finals.
Eddie Jones has already kicked off the verbal jousting by claiming the Jonathan Sexton has access to a “bat phone” when it comes to communicating with referees. It is just another in a long list quotes that can be attributed to Jones. The game with England in two weeks time will set the tone for both sides in this Championship.
England could be in a better place with Jamie George and Luke Cowen Dickie as the starting hooker and back up for the Dublin game. The impact that Henry Slade had on the Chiefs game plan vs. Munster at the weekend will be crucial to England’s chances if he starts in the centre.
Ireland will want the next few days in Portugal to count and the selection of Jack Carty along with Joey Carbery to understudy Jonathan Sexton suggest that we may see a slight change in the way Ireland will attack during the Championship. All three out halves have had regular game time since last November and are beginning to make each club side tick. This is bound to have a positive impact on Ireland.
Ireland will be in good shape heading into this Championship, There is no better way to open the Championship than England in Dublin. Here’s hoping for a good competitive campaign and I will now try and select the 23 to take England on in two weeks time.
15 Andrew Conway
14 Keith Earls
13 Garry Ringrose
12 Robbie Henshaw
11 Jacob Stockdale
10 Jonathan Sexton
9 Conor Murray
8 CJ Stander
7 Josh Van Der Flier
6 Peter O Mahony
5 James Ryan
4 Devin Toner
3 Tadgh Furlong
2 Rory Best
1 Cian Healy
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16 Sean Cronin
17 Dave Kilcoyne
18 Andrew Porter
19 Ultan Dillane
20 Jack Conan
21 John Cooney
22 Joey Carbery
23 Bundee Aki