Ireland squad for the opening rounds of 2019 Six Nations

Ireland host England on the opening weekend of the 2019 Guinness Six Nations before heading to Murrayfield to face Scotland.

The uncapped Connacht trio of Caolin Blade, Jack Carty and Tom Farrell have been included in the squad.

Ireland Head Coach Joe Schmidt commented, "It's been great to watch the provincial teams doing so well in recent weeks. With another very competitive round of EPCR this weekend, the following Ireland squad for the first two matches of the Six Nations has been selected, knowing that late changes may be required, depending on how the matches go in the weekend. There have been a number of tight calls across almost every position."

Will Addison (Ulster/Enniskillen) 3 caps Bundee Aki (Connacht/Galwegians) 12 caps Caolin Blade (Connacht/Galwegians) 0 caps Joey Carbery (Munster/Clontarf) 16 caps Jack Carty (Connacht/Buccaneers) 0 caps Andrew Conway (Munster/Garryowen) 10 caps John Cooney (Ulster/Terenure College) 4 caps Keith Earls (Munster/Young Munster) 72 caps Chris Farrell (Munster/Young Munster) 3 caps Tom Farrell (Connacht/TBC) 0 caps Robbie Henshaw (Leinster/Buccaneers) 36 caps Rob Kearney (Leinster/UCD) 87 caps Jordan Larmour (Leinster/St Mary's College) 9 caps Conor Murray (Munster/Garryowen) 67 caps Garry Ringrose (Leinster/UCD) 17 caps Jonathan Sexton (Leinster/St Marys College) 78 caps (vc) Jacob Stockdale (Ulster/Ballynahinch) 14 caps

Forwards (21)-
Rory Best (Ulster/Banbridge) 113 caps Captain
Tadhg Beirne (Munster/Lansdowne) 4 caps
Jack Conan (Leinster/Old Belvedere) 11 caps
Sean Cronin (Leinster/St Mary's College) 65 caps
Ultan Dillane (Connacht/Corinthians) 11 caps
Tadhg Furlong (Leinster/Clontarf) 28 caps
Cian Healy (Leinster/Clontarf) 84 caps
Iain Henderson (Ulster/Queens University) 42 caps
Dave Kilcoyne (Munster/UL Bohemians) 24 caps
Jack McGrath (Leinster/St Marys College) 53 caps
Jordi Murphy (Ulster/Lansdowne) 26 caps
Sean O'Brien (Leinster/UCD) 52 caps
Peter O'Mahony (Munster/Cork Constitution) 52 caps (vc)
Andrew Porter (Leinster/UCD) 11 caps
Rhys Ruddock (Leinster/St Mary's College) 21 caps
James Ryan (Leinster/UCD) 13 caps
John Ryan (Munster/Cork Constitution) 16 caps
Niall Scannell (Munster/Dolphin) 11 caps
CJ Stander (Munster/Shannon) 28 caps
Devin Toner (Leinster/Lansdowne) 63 caps
Josh van der Flier (Leinster/UCD) 13 caps