14 Ireland players return to provinces and Sexton returns to training.
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14 Ireland players return to provinces and Sexton returns to training.

14 players that are part of Andy Farrell's Six Nations squad have been released back to their provinces and most importantly for Ireland is the news that Johnny Sexton is back in training.

The Six Nations will not return until the weekend of the 26th of February, so Farrell's squad will be able to keep match fit with the URC.  Next up is the visit of Italy to Dublin.

Leinster' Johnny Sexton missed Ireland's loss to France with a hamstring injury, but is set to return to a mini-training camp later this week.

CARDIFF, WALES - FEBRUARY 07: Johnny Sexton (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

23 players will join up at the IRFU’s high-performance center at the Sport Ireland Campus on Thursday and Friday. Ulster hooker Rob Herring who missed the first two games with a calf issue will also feature.

Leinster will welcome Ospreys to the RDS on Saturday and will have Cian Healy, Jordan Larmour, and Ryan Baird for the game, while Connacht will have Jack Carty and Dave Heffernan back for the Scarlets game.

Munster will see Craig Casey, Gavin Coombes and Dave Kilcoyne return for the home game with Edinburgh on Friday.

The highest return of players will end up at Ulser Michael Lowry, Tom O’Toole, Nick Timoney, James Hume, Robert Baloucoune, and Kieran Treadwell play the Dragons away on Sunday.

IRELAND MINI-CAMP TRAINING SQUAD:

Player/Club/Province/Caps –

Bundee Aki (Galwegians/Connacht) 35
Finlay Bealham (Buccaneers/Connacht) 20
Tadhg Beirne (Lansdowne/Munster) 27
Joey Carbery (Clontarf/Munster) 29
Jack Conan (Old Belvedere/Leinster) 24
Andrew Conway (Garryowen/Munster) 29
Caelan Doris (St. Mary’s College/Leinster) 14
Tadhg Furlong (Clontarf/Leinster) 54
Jamison Gibson-Park (Leinster) 14
Mack Hansen (Connacht) 2
Iain Henderson (Academy/Ulster) 66
Robbie Henshaw (Buccaneers/Leinster) 54
Rob Herring (Ballynahinch/Ulster) 23
Hugo Keenan (UCD/Leinster) 18
Ronan Kelleher (Lansdowne/Leinster) 18
Conor Murray (Garryowen/Munster) 94
Peter O’Mahony (Cork Constitution/Munster) 81
Andrew Porter (UCD/Leinster) 42
Garry Ringrose (UCD/Leinster) 39
James Ryan (UCD/Leinster) 42
Jonathan Sexton (St. Mary’s College/Leinster) (capt) 102
Dan Sheehan (Lansdowne/Leinster) 4
Josh van der Flier (UCD/Leinster) 37

Players Released To Provinces:

Robert Baloucoune (Enniskillen/Ulster) 2
Ryan Baird (Dublin University/Leinster) 7
Jack Carty (Buccaneers/Connacht) 11
Craig Casey (Shannon/Munster) 4
Gavin Coombes (Young Munster/Munster) 2
Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster) 114
Dave Heffernan (Buccaneers/Connacht) 6
James Hume (Banbridge/Ulster) 2
Jordan Larmour (St. Mary’s College/Leinster) 30
Michael Lowry (Banbridge/Ulster) *
Dave Kilcoyne (UL Bohemians/Munster) 45
Tom O’Toole (Ballynahinch/Ulster) 2
Nick Timoney (Banbridge/Ulster) 2
Kieran Treadwell (Ballymena/Ulster) 3