James Lowe looks set to make his Ireland debut after the winger was included as one of three uncapped players in Andy Farrell’s squad for the inaugural Autumn Nations Cup.
The 28-year-old was born in New Zealand but is eligible for Ireland through residency after joining Leinster in 2017 and has been named in the 34-man squad for the inaugural tournament.
Lowe is one of three uncapped players included along with utility back Shane Daly and fly-half Billy Burns, with the latter replacing Jack Carty in the squad as another No.10 option.
Fit again winger Keith Earls also returns to the Ireland set up as he bids to add to his 84 caps for his country, having recently been sidelined with a back injury.
Scrum-half Kieran Marmion and lock Quinn Roux will both be made available to Connacht for their game in the PRO14 this weekend before joining up with the national squad on Sunday.
No.8 Jack Conan was rehabbing an issue in camp that hasn’t settled so will return to Leinster to continue his rehabilitation programme.
Ireland will kick off the inaugural Autumn Nations Cup tournament against Wales at the Aviva Stadium on November 13 before travelling to London to face England at Twickenham.
Farrell’s men, who lost to France in their final game of the 2020 Championship, will then host Georgia in Dublin before facing either Fiji, Les Bleus, Italy or Scotland on finals weekend.
Ireland Squad Guinness Series/Autumn Nations Cup
Backs (16) Bundee Aki (Connacht) Billy Burns (Ulster) Ross Byrne (Leinster) Andrew Conway (Munster) Shane Daly (Munster) Keith Earls (Munster) Chris Farrell (Munster) Jamison Gibson Park (Leinster) Robbie Henshaw (Leinster) Hugo Keenan (Leinster) James Lowe (Leinster) Kieran Marmion (Connacht) Stuart McCloskey (Ulster) Conor Murray (Munster) Jonathan Sexton (Leinster) Captain Jacob Stockdale (Ulster)
Forwards (18) Finlay Bealham (Connacht) Tadhg Beirne (Munster) Ed Byrne (Leinster) Will Connors (Leinster) Ultan Dillane (Connacht) Caelan Doris (Leinster) Cian Healy (Leinster) Dave Heffernan (Connacht) Iain Henderson (Ulster) Rob Herring (Ulster) Ronan Kelleher (Leinster) Peter O’Mahony (Munster) Andrew Porter (Leinster) Quinn Roux (Connacht) John Ryan (Munster) James Ryan (Leinster) CJ Stander (Munster) Josh van der Flier (Leinster)
