Schmidt calls up Scannell brothers

There are just three uncapped players in the group with brothers Niall and Rory Scannell together with Andrew Conway being called up from Munster.

Ireland travel to both Edinburgh and Rome over the course of the first two rounds of this year's Championship facing the Scots in Murrayfield on Saturday, February 4 before flying to Rome to take on Conor O'Shea's Italian side on Saturday, February 11. 

"It has been good to watch the players over the past two months and great to see many of them doing so well," said Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt 

"As always there were some difficult decisions but we feel that the group is a good mix with a number of key players having good experience and a number of newer players having gained valuable experience and confidence during the June tour to South Africa and the recent November series."

Ireland squad:

Forwards: Finlay Bealham, Rory Best, Jack Conan, Ultan Dillane, Tadhg Furlong, Cian Healy, Jamie Heaslip, Iain Henderson, Billy Holland, Dave Kilcoyne, Dan Leavy, Jack McGrath, Sean O'Brien, Tommy O'Donnell, Peter O'Mahony, Donnacha Ryan, John Ryan, Niall Scannell, Christiaan Stander, Devin Toner, James Tracy, Josh van der Flier.  

Backs: Tommy Bowe, Andrew Conway, Keith Earls, Craig Gilroy, Robbie Henshaw, Paddy Jackson, Rob Kearney, Kieran Marmion, Luke Marshall, Stuart McCloskey, Luke McGrath, Conor Murray, Tiernan O'Halloran, Garry Ringrose, Rory Scannell, Jonathan Sexton, Andrew Trimble, Simon Zebo.