After the disappointing defence of our Championship last year, it's been an amazing year for Irish rugby, with historic wins for Ireland and a heartening return to form in European action. But last year's Six Nations will still be in the mind of Joe Schmidt and the Irish team when we begin the 2017 campaign in just two weeks.
The IRFU this morning released Joe Schmidt's squad for the tournament, and although there's rarely much to be learned in the announcement of a 40-man squad, there are some interesting talking points.
There are three uncapped players named, Munster trio Andrew Conway, Niall Scannell and Rory Scannell, who have all impressed in Munster's dramatic return to form this season. The Scannell brother their chance with injuries at hooker and centre to Sean Cronin and Jared Payne respectively.
There's no place however for Leinster winger Adam Byrne, who has impressed so much this season, that Will Greenwood even bizarrely included him in his Lions starting XV on Sky Sports yesterday.
As expected, Johnny Sexton's calf injury isn't serious enough to rule him out. Schmidt has included just two out halves though, even with Sexton a serious doubt for the trip to Edinburgh, continuing his policy of leaving out France based Ian Madigan.
You can see the full 40 man squad below:
Irish Six Nations Squad
Forwards (22)
Finlay Bealham (Buccaneers/Connacht) 6 caps
Rory Best (Banbridge/Ulster) (c) 100 caps
Jack Conan (Old Belvedere/Leinster) 1 cap
Ultan Dillane (Corinthians/Connacht) 8 caps
Tadhg Furlong (Clontarf/Leinster) 11 caps
Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster) 62 caps
Jamie Heaslip (Dublin University/Leinster) (vc) 91 caps
Iain Henderson (Ballynahinch/Ulster) 28 caps
Billy Holland (Cork Constitution/Munster) 1 cap
Dave Kilcoyne (UL Bohemians/Munster) 17 caps
Dan Leavy (UCD/Leinster) 1 cap
Jack McGrath (St. Mary's College/Leinster) 36 caps
Sean O'Brien (UCD/Leinster) 44 caps
Tommy O'Donnell (UL Bohemians/Munster) 12 caps
Peter O'Mahony (Cork Con/Munster) 37 caps
Donnacha Ryan (Shannon/Munster) 43 caps
John Ryan (Cork Constitution/Munster) 1 cap
Niall Scannell (Dolphin/Munster) *
CJ Stander (Munster) 10 caps
Devin Toner (Lansdowne/Leinster) 42 caps
James Tracy (UCD/Leinster) 1 cap
Josh van der Flier (UCD/Leinster) 5 caps
Backs (18)
Tommy Bowe (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster) 67 caps
Andrew Conway (Munster) *
Keith Earls (Young Munster/Munster) 54 caps
Craig Gilroy (Bangor/Ulster) 9 caps
Robbie Henshaw (Buccaneers/Leinster) 24 caps
Paddy Jackson (Dungannon/Ulster) 19 caps
Rob Kearney (UCD/Leinster) 72 caps
Kieran Marmion (Corinthians/Connacht) 9 caps
Luke Marshall (Ballymena/Ulster) 9 caps
Stuart McCloskey (Ballynahinch/Ulster) 1 cap
Luke McGrath (UCD/Leinster) 1 cap
Conor Murray (Garryowen/Munster) 53 caps
Tiernan O'Halloran (Buccaneers/Connacht) 3 caps
Garry Ringrose (UCD/Leinster) 3 caps
Rory Scannell (Dolphin/Munster) *
Jonathan Sexton (St Mary's College/Leinster) 63 caps
Andrew Trimble (Ballymena/Ulster) 69 caps
Simon Zebo (Cork Constitution/Munster) 28 caps
Ireland kick off their campaign with a visit to Murrayfield on the 4th of February before heading to Rome the following Saturday. France visit the Aviva on the 25th before a trip to Cardiff and then a potential deciding game against England in Dublin.
