O'Sullivan's 32 head for Belfast

RUGBY : Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan has named a 32-man squad for a four-day training camp in Belfast next week

RUGBY: Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan has named a 32-man squad for a four-day training camp in Belfast next week. The extended match squad will come together on Monday and train until Thursday in preparation for Ireland's next Six Nations Championship game against Italy at Lansdowne Road on March 23rd.

Geordan Murphy (Leicester), Keith Wood (Harlequins) and Jeremy Davidson (Dungannon) were not considered because of injury. The match 22 from Ireland's victory over Scotland last Saturday will all travel to Belfast along with 10 members of side that won the A international Triple Crown.

The Irish team will conduct a training session on the Tuesday (3 p.m.), which will be open to the public: it is likely to be well attended.

All those named in the extended squad will be available to their clubs for AIB League duty this weekend with the exception of the following: Girvan Dempsey (Terenure), Rob Henderson (Young Munster), Denis Hickie (St Mary's), Brian O'Driscoll (Blackrock), Ronan O'Gara (Cork Constitution) and Peter Stringer (Shannon).

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IRELAND SQUAD

Forwards: S Byrne (Leinster), P Clohessy (Munster), V Costello (Leinster), R Corrigan (Leinster), S Easterby (Llanelli), A Foley (Munster), M Galwey (Munster), K Gleeson (Leinster), J Hayes (Munster), G Longwell (Ulster), E Miller (Leinster), P O'Connell (Munster), M O'Kelly (Leinster), A Quinlan (Munster), F Sheahan (Munster), D Wallace (Munster), P Wallace (Leinster).

Backs: G D'Arcy (Leinster), G Dempsey (Leinster), G Easterby (Llanelli), R Henderson (Munster), D Hickie (Leinster), S Horgan (Leinster), T Howe (Ulster), D Humphreys (Ulster), J Kelly (Munster), K Maggs (Bath), M Mullins (Munster), B O'Driscoll (Leinster), R O'Gara (Munster), P Stringer (Munster), P Wallace (Ulster).

John O'Sullivan

John O'Sullivan

John O'Sullivan is an Irish Times sports writer