Ireland added fit-again Jared Payne to their squad for the final two Six Nations games against Wales and England, giving coach Joe Schmidt an extra backline option as he bids for a third Six Nations title in four years.
Ireland added fit-again Jared Payne to their squad for the final two Six Nations games against Wales and England, giving coach Joe Schmidt an extra backline option as he bids for a third Six Nations title in four years.
Payne, a regular feature at centre for Ireland before suffering a kidney injury last November that kept him out of the opening three championship games, returned off the bench for his province Ulster last weekend.
The New Zealand-born back would also give Schmidt an option at fullback if Rob Kearney fails to recover from the foot injury that forced him off during Saturday's 19-9 victory over France.
That win kept Ireland on top of the chasing back behind leaders England, who are the only team so far to win all three games. Eddie Jones' side travel to Dublin for the final round of fixtures on March 18 but must first face third-placed Scotland.
Joey Carbery, Ireland flyhalf Johnny Sexton's understudy at Leinster, also returns to the squad after injury having made an impressive international debut last November.
Ireland squad:
Forwards: Rory Best (captain), Jack Conan, Tadhg Furlong, Cian Healy, Jamie Heaslip, Iain Henderson, Dave Kilcoyne, Dan Leavy, Jack McGrath, Sean O'Brien, Tommy O'Donnell, Peter O'Mahony, Quinn Roux, Donnacha Ryan, John Ryan, Niall Scannell, CJ Stander, Devin Toner, James Tracy
Backs: Joey Carbery, Andrew Conway, Keith Earls, Craig Gilroy, Robbie Henshaw, Paddy Jackson, Rob Kearney, Kieran Marmion, Luke Marshall, Luke McGrath, Conor Murray, Tiernan O'Halloran, Jared Payne, Garry Ringrose, Johnny Sexton, Andrew Trimble, Simon Zebo.
(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)
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