Good news for Ireland ahead of Wales clash

NEWS: Ireland appear set to have a full deck of cards to play with going into the opening weekend of the Six Nations, following an update from Portugal.

Andy Farrell’s squad arrived at The Campus in Quinta da Lago, Portugal on Thursday afternoon and trained on Friday and Saturday before a recovery day on Sunday.

A statement reads: "The squad will complete an organisational day today [Monday] before training tomorrow [Tuesday] and Wednesday before flying back to Dublin to complete preparations for the first game of the 2022 Six Nations against Wales at the Aviva Stadium this coming Saturday."

Crucially, Ireland issued a positive update on six of their biggest name injury concerns, three of which are already training fully and three who are set to return.

"Keith Earls [strain], Josh van der Flier [strain] and Joey Carbery [elbow] have trained fully. Tadhg Furlong, James Ryan and Iain Henderson, whose respective loads have been managed to this point, are set to train tomorrow [Tuesday]."

Ireland are going into the tournament with high hopes after one of their most successful Autumns in several seasons.

Farrell’s men won all three of the games, most notably beating the All Blacks convincingly in Dublin.

Ireland’s 37-man squad for the 2022 Six Nations:

Backs: Bundee Aki, Robert Baloucoune, Joey Carbery, Jack Carty, Craig Casey, Andrew Conway, Keith Earls, Jamison Gibson Park, Mack Hansen, Robbie Henshaw, James Hume, Hugo Keenan, Jordan Larmour, Michael Lowry, Conor Murray, Garry Ringrose, Johnny Sexton (captain).

Forwards: Ryan Baird, Finlay Bealham, Tadhg Beirne, Jack Conan, Gavin Coombes, Caelan Doris, Tadhg Furlong, Cian Healy, Iain Henderson, Rob Herring, Ronan Kelleher, Dave Kilcoyne, Peter O’Mahony, Tom O’Toole, Andrew Porter, James Ryan, Dan Sheehan, Nick Timoney, Kieran Treadwell, Josh van der Flier.

By Ian Cameron, @RugbyPass