A hip injury has denied prop Cian Healy the chance to win his 100th Ireland cap in the 2020 Guinness Six Nations.
Healy is just two appearances away from reaching that milestone but Ireland confirmed he will play no further part in this year’s Championship.
The 32-year-old suffered the injury in the first half of Sunday’s 24-12 defeat to England at Twickenham and will now miss Ireland’s matches against Italy and France.
Lock Iain Henderson is among 28 players that will participate in a training camp in Dublin this week after missing the England clash following the birth of his son.
Meanwhile, Will Connors, Max Deegan, Chris Farrell, David Kearney, Luke McGrath and Jack O’Donoghue have all been released back to their provinces ahead of this weekend’s Guinness PRO14 fixtures.
With Ulster’s match against Benetton postponed, Billy Burns, Stuart McCloskey, Jack McGrath and Tom O’Toole will attend the two-day Ireland camp which includes an open training session at Energia Park on Friday.
Ulster full-back Will Addison will remain at his club as he continues his rehabilitation from a calf problem.
Ireland kicked off the Championship with victories over Scotland and Wales but missed out on the Triple Crown when they lost to England in Round 3.
Lock James Ryan said he and his team-mates were “pretty hurt” and disappointed they did not match England’s physical challenge at Twickenham.
“Rugby’s a collision sport. That’s the way it’s always been,” Ryan said.
“If you win the collisions, you ultimately win the game. Not a whole lot has changed in that regard.
“England are up there with the most physical sides in the world. We spoke about matching that and going beyond but they started very well.
“We probably didn’t fire any shots, especially in the first half.
“We were looking for a Triple Crown there. Going to Twickenham, feeling like we never gave the best representation of ourselves and leaving well beaten, it probably doesn’t make a massive amount of difference.
“We’re pretty hurt, collectively.”
Despite the Round 3 loss, Ryan insists Ireland are developing under head coach Andy Farrell as they prepare for their meeting with Italy at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday, March 7.
“We’re trying to grow and get better,” Ryan said. “Things aren’t going to click straight away for us.
“We’re two wins from three. It’s not where we want to be. The weekend was below where we should be but I’ve no doubt that we’re moving in the right direction.
“I fully believe that we’ll take the learnings from this game and we’ll be a lot better going forward.”
Ireland squad for training camp
Backs
Bundee Aki (Connacht)
Billy Burns (Ulster)
Ross Byrne (Leinster)
Andrew Conway (Munster)
John Cooney (Ulster)
Keith Earls (Munster)
Robbie Henshaw (Leinster)
Jordan Larmour (Leinster)
Stuart McCloskey (Ulster)
Conor Murray (Munster)
Jonathan Sexton (Leinster)
Jacob Stockdale (Ulster)
Forwards
Ultan Dillane (Connacht)
Caelan Doris (Leinster)
Tadhg Furlong (Leinster)
Dave Heffernan (Connacht)
Iain Henderson (Ulster)
Rob Herring (Ulster)
Ronan Kelleher (Leinster)
Dave Kilcoyne (Munster)
Jack McGrath (Ulster)
Peter O’Mahony (Munster)
Tom O’Toole (Ulster)
Andrew Porter (Leinster)
James Ryan (Leinster)
CJ Stander (Munster)
Devin Toner (Leinster)
Josh van der Flier (Leinster)
