BREAKING: Andy Farrell names Ireland 33-man World Cup squad

BREAKING: Andy Farrell names Ireland 33-man World Cup squad

Ireland name squad for 2023 Rugby World Cup.

Cian Healy, Jacob Stockdale, Cian Prendergast, Ciaran Frawley, Tom Stewart and Diarmuid Barron have missed out on a place in Ireland’s 33-man Rugby World Cup squad.

Head coach Andy Farrell named his squad earlier this evening and Healy’s absence was the headline news after he sustained a calf injury against Samoa last night.

Farrell however, has not ruled out calling up the 128-cap loosehead later in the tournament if he can prove his fitness and circumstance allows.

Ireland World Cup Squad.

Stockdale is the other big name omission from the 33. The Ulster winger started last night’s warm-up but failed to make enough of an impression to take the final wing spot in the squad from Keith Earls.

Earls shone off the bench on his 100th cap against England at the Aviva Stadium and the Munster veteran always had a good chance of making the squad for his experience and personality alone.

There was talk that Ciaran Frawley’s ability to cover a couple of positions could cost Ulster centre Stuart McCloskey, but that has not proven to be the case.

The value of Frawley’s versatility is devalued by the similar flexibility of Munster playmaker Jack Crowley and that may well have costed the Leinster man when it came to Farrell’s final decision.

Selection.

The rest of the squad doesn’t come as much of a surprise but Ireland supporters will be glad to see hookers Dan Sheehan and Ronan Kelleher selected to travel to France despite recent worries over their fitness.

Their availability comes at the expense of Munster’s Diarmuid Barron and Ulster’s Tom Stewart but – as ever – there will be injuries along the way and none of the omitted players should give up on their World Cup dreams just yet.

Ireland kick off their World Cup campaign against Romania at the Stade de Bordeaux on Saturday 9th September.