Ireland head coach Andy Farrell has named four uncapped players in a 42-man training squad ahead of the Rugby World Cup.
Munster wing Calvin Nash, Leinster backs Ciaran Frawley and Jamie Osborne and Ulster hooker Tom Stewart have all been included.
Leinster back Jordan Larmour and Munster fly-half Joey Carbery miss out, though, for a first block of training that starts on June 18.
Ireland have World Cup warm-up games against Italy, England and Samoa in August, with their tournament opener coming against Romania in Bordeaux on September 9.
A warm-weather training camp in Portugal is also planned for August before Farrell confirms his 33-player World Cup squad.
“It is exciting to announce our extended training squad for the first phase of Rugby World Cup preparations, and we are looking forward to assembling in Dublin next month to hit the ground running as a group,” Farrell told irishrugby.ie.
“It is pleasing to see that selection has been as tough as ever, as real quality players have initially been unfortunate to have missed out.
“I am sure that camp will be competitive enough as we grow minds and bodies and look to push on with our game from last season.
“In the meantime, it’s important that we freshen up for a busy and exciting summer ahead so we are ready to get to work on June 18.”
Training squad: Backs – B Aki (Connacht), C Blade (Connacht), R Byrne (Leinster), C Casey (Munster), J Crowley (Munster), K Earls (Munster), C Frawley (Leinster), J Gibson-Park (Leinster), M Hansen (Connacht), R Henshaw (Leinster), H Keenan (Leinster), J Lowe (Leinster), S McCloskey (Ulster), C Murray (Munster), C Nash (Munster), J O’Brien (Leinster), J Osborne (Leinster), G Ringrose (Leinster), J Sexton (Leinster), J Stockdale (Ulster).
Forwards – R Baird (Leinster), F Bealham (Connacht), T Beirne (Munster), J Conan (Leinster), G Coombes (Munster), C Doris (Leinster), T Furlong (Leinster), C Healy (Leinster), I Henderson (Ulster), R Herring (Ulster), R Kelleher (Leinster), D Kilcoyne (Munster), J McCarthy (Leinster), P O’Mahony (Munster), T O’Toole (Ulster), A Porter (Leinster), C Prendergast (Connacht), J Ryan (Leinster), D Sheehan (Leinster), T Stewart (Ulster), K Treadwell (Ulster), J van der Flier (Leinster).
France give positive Antoine Dupont fitness update
France’s coaching staff have “no doubts” injured captain Antoine Dupont will be available to play in the quarter-finals of the Rugby World Cup.
Scrum-half Dupont suffered a facial fracture on Thursday during his country’s 96-0 thrashing of Namibia.
The 26-year-old Toulouse player is due to report for training on Sunday, having undergone successful surgery.
Les Bleus assistant coach William Servat told a press conference on Tuesday: “Antoine is in great order today. The operation went very well, and he is resting.
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“He will return for training on Sunday. Friday and Saturday are our rest days, he will have the time to return in this period of time.
“I have no doubts about his ability to play in the quarter-final. I think it is reasonable to say that.”
France top Pool A following three successive victories and have a free weekend ahead of completing their group-stage fixtures on October 6 against Italy in Lyon.
The hosts are likely to face South Africa, Ireland or Scotland in the last eight of the tournament on the weekend of October 14-15 in Paris.
From Elie to Nice – Johnny Matthews buzzing after joining Scotland squad
Uncapped Glasgow front-rower Johnny Matthews revealed he was stunned to get a call out of the blue on Saturday asking him to fly to France to join Scotland’s World Cup squad.
The 30-year-old was enjoying a day out in the Fife coastal town of Elie when assistant coach John Dalziel phoned to tell him his services were required after Stuart McInally suffered a neck injury and had to withdraw just over a week after the 33-year-old Edinburgh forward got his own late call-up to replace the concussed Dave Cherry.
Matthews – effectively the Scots’ sixth-choice hooker – rushed back to Glasgow to get himself organised and caught a flight to Nice on Sunday morning before being officially added to the squad.
“I’m buzzing to be here,” he said, speaking from the Scots’ training base in the south of France on Tuesday afternoon.
“I was very shocked to get the call but I’m obviously delighted and just looking to throw my hat into the ring to try to get some games while I’m here.
“I was in Elie with my wife and some good friends when I got the call from John. We were taking the dogs for a walk and when I saw John’s number pop up I knew he wasn’t phoning for a catch-up.
“He said ‘how quickly can you get to Nice?’ and now I’m here. It didn’t really feel real until I got here. It was a whirlwind 24 hours, trying to get packed, find my gumshield, get my boots and all the other stuff I needed.
“My boots were at (Glasgow’s home ground) Scotstoun, so I had to shoot there and get them to keep the place open. I then quickly packed and got on a 6am flight on Sunday morning.
“Once I finally got here and got the (Scotland World Cup) kit, that’s when it felt real. My wife flew out with me so she is loving it too.”
Liverpool-born Matthews – who qualifies for Scotland through his Blantyre-born mother – enjoyed an impressive season for Glasgow.
However, he knew it would be a tall order to make the initial squad, with George Turner, Ewan Ashman, Cherry, McInally and Fraser Brown all more established in the international fold.
Ultimately the misfortune of Cherry and McInally over the past few weeks, allied to an ACL injury sustained by Brown in May, paved the way for Matthews to land an unlikely crack at the biggest tournament in the game.
“My aim is to play for Glasgow, and if you do that, you’re always in contention for the Scotland squad I suppose,” he said when asked if the possibility of World Cup involvement had featured prominently in his thoughts.
“The more I played for Glasgow, the more my hopes got a little bit higher, but it’s a very hotly-contested position. There are five or six brilliant hookers in Scotland so I’m just happy to be here.
“I was hoping I had an outside chance of making it into the original training squad, but it’s a pretty settled group and there have been the same three, four or five hookers in the last x-amount of squads so I knew I’d have to do pretty well to get in.
“I was disappointed but it wasn’t a shock that I didn’t get in.”
With Matthews’ only international appearance to date coming for Scotland A against Chile in June 2022, he now has the chance to win his first full cap at a World Cup, with must-win pool games against Romania and Ireland to come over the next two weekends.
Asked if he ever thought his opportunity of playing for Scotland had passed him by, Matthews – a prolific try-scorer at club level – said: “You never say never – you just keep playing well for Glasgow, keep scoring and you’ve always got a chance I suppose.
“It’s a hotly-contested position but I’ll do all I can over the next few days and hopefully I can get in the (match-day) squad. Rugby is a pretty brutal and physical contact sport and hookers are at the coalface.
“I’m gutted for the boys who have missed out on the opportunity (due to injury) but at the same time you’ve got to look out for yourself and take the opportunity when it presents itself.”
Although he has not had the same intensive pre-season build-up that the rest of the Scotland players were subjected to, Matthews – who has thrived under Glasgow head coach Franco Smith – feels he is in good condition.
“I tried to keep myself in a shape that wasn’t round over the summer,” he smiled.
“I didn’t want to come into Franco’s pre-season unfit anyway. Anyone who has done one of them will tell you you can’t be unfit going into that.”
Ireland hooker Dan Sheehan in ‘perfect’ condition for rest of World Cup
First-choice Ireland hooker Dan Sheehan is raring to go for the remainder of the Rugby World Cup after declaring his body is in “perfect” condition.
Question marks initially surrounded Sheehan’s participation in the tournament after he limped off with a foot issue during his country’s warm-up win over England on August 19.
The 25-year-old sat out bonus-point wins over Romania and Tonga before making his World Cup debut as a second-half replacement during Saturday evening’s memorable Pool B triumph over South Africa in Paris.
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Fit-again Sheehan is targeting further action when Ireland return to Stade de France on October 7 seeking to secure progression to the knockout stages in a “massive” clash with Scotland.
“For a first experience of a World Cup game, it doesn’t get much better, I don’t think, especially in a crowd like that,” he said, after his side were backed by tens of thousands of Irish fans against the Springboks.
“It’s definitely the best atmosphere I’ve played in. We fed off that a good bit.
“My body’s perfect now. I had a few weeks there where the medical staff did a great job to get me back in this time but I’ve no complaints at all now so I’ll be looking to get back into the squad.”
Victory over South Africa put Ireland in control of Pool B and propelled them to the cusp of the quarter-finals.
Yet Andy Farrell’s men, who are due to reconvene on Wednesday following a few days off, still have work to do to prevent a pool-stage exit.
Asked how much pressure beating the reigning champions takes off the Scotland match, Sheehan replied: “None. The job’s not done.
“We have a bit of luxury now that we have two weeks to lead up into the Scotland game but we can’t afford to take the foot off the gas at all.
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“The Scotland game is going to be massive. That’s obviously a massive win for us but nothing’s guaranteed at all so all eyes on Scotland now.”
The world’s number one team have won 16 matches in a row and suffered just two defeats in their last 30 outings.
Sheehan believes the remarkable run of results have helped enhance the unity in Ireland’s camp but insists Farrell’s squad must remain grounded.
“I think all of these big games bring you closer,” said the Leinster player, who is competing with provincial team-mate Ronan Kelleher and Ulster’s Rob Herring for a starting spot. “They add to the trust within the group.
“It definitely brings you tighter but you need to make sure you don’t get ahead of yourself and there’s a job to be done now against Scotland.
“We’ve huge confidence in our game plan and our approach to the games is really good. Our week’s prep has been on point for every game that we’ve won.
“We just double down on what we’re good at. We’re in a good place now and we just need to keep going.”
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