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Rugby World CupIrelandAndy FarrellJohnny Sexton

Other than Sexton Farrell has full Ireland deck to pick from

By PA
Johnny Sexton (L) the Ireland captain talks to head coach Andy Farrell during the Ireland captain's run at the Aviva Stadium on March 17, 2023 in Dublin, Ireland. (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

Ireland have reported a fully-fit squad for Saturday’s Bank of Ireland Nations Series clash with Italy at the Aviva Stadium.

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Head coach Andy Farrell named a 42-man training squad at the end of May in preparation for the World Cup in September and the players have regathered at the IRFU High Performance Centre in Dublin.

Irish Rugby said: “The Ireland squad have stepped up their preparations ahead of Saturday night’s opening game of the Bank of Ireland Nations Series at Aviva Stadium against Italy (8pm).

“In team news, all players reported into camp on Sunday evening and are available for selection for the Bank of Ireland Nations Series.”

After their first warm-up match against Italy, Ireland will play England at Aviva Stadium (August 19) and Samoa in Bayonne (August 26) before their opening World Cup group game against Romania in Bordeaux on September 9.

Captain Johnny Sexton will miss the warm-up fixtures due to a three-match ban, but will be available for their opening World Cup fixture.

The 38-year-old fly-half admitted to a misconduct charge following his row with referee Jaco Peyper at the end of Leinster’s Heineken Champions Cup final defeat to La Rochelle in May, in which he did not play.

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Comments on RugbyPass

J
JW 13 minutes ago
The coaching conundrum part one: Is there a crisis Down Under?

Yeah I shouldn’t have said “at all”. I’d agree they have had a mentality problem/issue for years but that it was just nit picky to suggest it played a part in this game. I didn’t sense that. I sensed a team confused and lacking confidence as you highlighted, but sure, if it was played again there might be more next time, but not enough to make up for the circumstances that happened in that game.

Rassie played a poor selection for Eden Park. He wen’t for the DNA approach, like how they have knuckled down with on this end of year tour, and it backfired on him, they weren’t good enough. He has persisted with some of the better selections he made for Wellington since then though, so I think they are a tougher prospect even playing poor rugby, but I don’t think the All Blacks played any better in Auckland as they did in London for instance.



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SK 28 minutes ago
Boks need more depth: 5 things on South Africa's Christmas wishlist

You cant have your cake and eat it too, hoping for a fantastic greatest rivalry series while talking about not forgetting Argentina and Australia makes about as much sense as owning a private jet, racking up the air miles and then giving a speech about how we all must stop flying to reduce greenhouse emissions. The greatest rivalry series has damaged the Rugby Championship. The relevance of Argentina and Australia has never been greater than it was this year when both were part of an incredible Rugby Championship in 2025 that was everyones for the taking after 4 rounds. The Rugby Championship should be building on the momentum created in 2025 creating new stories and a cult following but instead its just not happening thanks to the obvious money grab from SA and NZ. This series is an affront to Southern Hemisphere unity and completely leaves out 2 great Southern teams who are left to fend for themselves with a diminished home calendar. Sure NZ will honor the Bledisloe and Austalia will get a test against the Boks and the same may be true for Argentina next year but not having the Rugby Championship clearly damages the comp and fewer fixtures against the Boks and All Blacks diminishes the rivalries that are being created with Argentina who are always the biggest losers. It also forces NZ fans to have just a 3 or 4 tests at home in a year where theres no world cup as it will SA fans when their turn comes to tour the land of the long white cloud in 2030.

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J
JW 36 minutes ago
The coaching conundrum part one: Is there a crisis Down Under?



t is pretty obvious Rassie is the best and most innovative international coach, isn’t it?

Haha yep, and perhaps they prefer it spelt out like that all the time :D



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337 Go to comments
J
JW 47 minutes ago
The coaching conundrum part one: Is there a crisis Down Under?

Ahh yes the Dmac jack in the box game. I’d just come back from Japan so I might have checked out that week but I don’t remember England being within a shout. Didn’t have sites this this then of course though.

We were pretty woeful leading up to it to be fair but the wins against South Africa I think had turned the tide from the loss against Ireland on the same tour. We’d thought it was done, shocking for a side that’s always tried to be their in the end but maybe they just weren’t good enough.



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J
JW 1 hour ago
The coaching conundrum part one: Is there a crisis Down Under?

Gawd no.. I mean hell yes, for someone whos in perpetual motion for 80 making them get bigger sounds like the best way of ruining their international career!

That was Freeman gliding through youre referring to right? Love a center who can play like that.



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G
GP 3 hours ago
Five bold possible debutants for the All Blacks in 2026

Good to see Canterbury and Crusaders lock Jamie Hannah get mentioned. Great in the line outs and high work rate. Jamie also top ball skills as he showed in the NPC Final when he started the movement that led to Dallas McLeods try.

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JW 5 hours ago
Rassie Erasmus loans 4 Springbok coaches to ailing URC outfit

Certainly here I think it is, but it must be very low value work, and across all teams. Getting stuck in utilizing skills etc will get much more value out of them.

5 Go to comments
J
JW 6 hours ago
Rassie Erasmus loans 4 Springbok coaches to ailing URC outfit

Great news, is it the first time then it’s been done?

Been saying that NZR needed to do similar with the Highlanders, mainly in terms of using it in a promotional way to lure players (smallest area of low local talent of all teams and have lacked quality in less recent players) to the area, by using some sort of formal national coaching application.



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J
JW 6 hours ago
Five bold possible debutants for the All Blacks in 2026

Vice versa it’s amazing how good Ioane looks in those games before he got partnered with Jordie and/or struggled too long with Havili.

22 Go to comments
J
JW 6 hours ago
Five bold possible debutants for the All Blacks in 2026

Neither of your too groups are the target of this article but I like those names. Caleb will make a ‘bold’ entrance, that’s for sure, really enjoy Numia and Flanders carrying too. What JRK is going to provide I don’t know but excited to see, with him first I just hope he can have more of the form he showed this year.

Haven’t seen enough of Roberts but I like his subtle game, not sure where Oli is going to fit in but jeeze what an exciting group!



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H
Hammer Head 9 hours ago
Rassie Erasmus loans 4 Springbok coaches to ailing URC outfit

He wasn’t the solution either

5 Go to comments
f
fl 10 hours ago
'He’s physical, he’s abrasive, very game-smart... England can’t ignore him'

Roots can feel incredibly hard done by by Borthwick. He got like 3 caps, was excellent, and then got permanently dropped. Given how many excellent flankers England have I can understand not picking Roots, but I can’t understand dropping him in the manner he was dropped. Fisilau definitely should be in and around the squad, but he’s going to have to do something really special to get close to the matchday 23.

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F
FC 10 hours ago
Rassie Erasmus loans 4 Springbok coaches to ailing URC outfit

Ah, so Jake White WASN’T the problem after all….

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unknown 11 hours ago
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Fisilau is definitely a future England back rower. At the moment, he’s benefitting hugely from playing alongside Ethan Roots (who’s probably the #1 forward in the Prem!) Fisilau AND Roots for England!!

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Archibald 11 hours ago
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Reminder: Here’s the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COrcGb_ViJY&t=1634s.

At 27:22 in the video and 10:34 on the game clock, the commentator says “The other young up-and-comer Feinberg-Mngomezulu kicks at the best fullback in the world”



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cw 11 hours ago
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Yes agree. They are a lesson in how to maximise potential.

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unknown 12 hours ago
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Exeter were robbed of a try bonus point by 2 terrible refereeing decisions. Nevertheless an excellent win!!

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NB 13 hours ago
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True, but would you not agree that Eng have made more improvement since July 2024 than NZ?

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SC 14 hours ago
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The Highlanders have a very weak set of props with the only exception being Ethan DeGroot. They will not advance to the semi-finals until they solve this issue which has seemed to plague them since Carl Hayman left in 2007.

Cam Millar needs to step up after two pretty mediocre Super Rugby seasons and prove he is more than just a very good NPC fly half.



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Eric Elwood 15 hours ago
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Solid win by Leinster. Tadhg Byrne said that this was one that got away from Munster but that is a very optimistic take. Leinster dominated for long sections and pinned Munster without landing the killer blow that the second try would have been. Munster defended and spoiled bravely but if Leinster go 14-0 the match was heading to a bonus point win.

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