Ireland still waiting to find out the extent of Rónan Kelleher’s shoulder injury

The extent of Rónan Kelleher’s shoulder injury, which forced him off after 26 minutes of Ireland’s 30-24 defeat by France in Paris last Saturday, remains unclear following an IRFU squad update.

“Ronan Kelleher’s shoulder issue will be further investigated this week by the medical team,” read the statement, which added: “Johnny Sexton will continue his hamstring rehab and return to rugby programme this week.”

After Sexton was ruled out of the Six Nations encounter at the Stade de France after becoming the latest to suffer a soft tissue injury in training when sustaining a hamstring strain last Wednesday, Andy Farrell speculated that it would take seven to 10 days for his captain to recover.

Conceivably, of course, Farrell and co might well view Ireland’s next game against Italy at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday week as an opportunity to further invest in Joey Carbery following his assured first Six Nations start in Paris.

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The ongoing concerns over Kelleher are offset by the return to the squad of Rob Herring, who missed the opening two rounds with a calf injury. Herring will be one of 23 players who will re-assemble on Thursday for a two day mini-camp at the IRFU HPC on the Sport Ireland Campus.

A total of 14 players have been released to their provinces to be available for selection in URC fixtures this weekend - Jack Carty and Dave Heffernan (to Connacht), Ryan Baird, Cian Healy and Jordan Larmour (Leinster), Craig Casey, Gavin Coombes and Dave Kilcoyne (Munster) and Robert Baloucoune, James Hume, Michael Lowry, Tom O’Toole, Nick Timoney and Kieran Treadwell (Ulster).

Ireland Mini-Camp Training Squad:

Bundee Aki (Connacht/Galwegians) 35 caps

Finlay Bealham (Connacht/Buccaneers) 20 caps

Tadhg Beirne (Munster/Lansdowne) 27 caps

Joey Carbery (Munster/Clontarf) 29 caps

Jack Conan (Leinster/Old Belvedere) 24 caps

Andrew Conway (Munster/Garryowen) 29 caps

Caelan Doris (Leinster/St Mary’s College) 14 caps

Tadhg Furlong (Leinster/Clontarf) 54 caps

Jamison Gibson Park (Leinster) 14 caps

Mack Hansen (Connacht) 2 caps

Iain Henderson (Ulster/Academy) 66 caps

Robbie Henshaw (Leinster/Buccaneers) 54 caps

Rob Herring (Ulster/Ballynahinch) 23 caps

Hugo Keenan (Leinster/UCD) 18 caps

Ronan Kelleher (Leinster/Lansdowne) 18 caps

Conor Murray (Munster/Garryowen) 94 caps

Peter O’Mahony (Munster/Cork Constitution) 81 caps

Andrew Porter (Leinster/UCD) 42 caps

Garry Ringrose (Leinster/UCD) 39 caps

James Ryan (Leinster/UCD) 42 caps

Johnny Sexton (Leinster/St Mary’s College) 102 caps

Dan Sheehan (Leinster/Lansdowne) 4 caps

Josh van der Flier (Leinster/UCD) 37 caps

Released to Provinces for URC Fixtures

Robert Baloucoune (Ulster/Enniskillen) 2 caps

Ryan Baird (Leinster/Dublin University) 7 caps

Jack Carty (Buccaneers/Connacht) 11 caps

Craig Casey (Munster/Shannon) 4 caps

Gavin Coombes (Munster/Young Munster) 2 caps

Cian Healy (Leinster/Clontarf) 114 caps

Dave Heffernan (Connacht/Buccaneers) 6 caps

James Hume (Ulster/Banbridge) 2 caps

Jordan Larmour (Leinster/St Mary’s College) 30 caps

Michael Lowry (Ulster/Banbridge) uncapped

Dave Kilcoyne (Munster/UL Bohemians) 45 caps

Tom O’Toole (Ulster/Ballynahinch) 2 caps

Nick Timoney (Ulster/Banbridge) 2 caps

Kieran Treadwell (Ulster/Ballymena) 3 caps.