Devin Toner has been an integral part of the Joe Schmidt setup with Ireland but reports today say the Leinster lock will not travel to the Rugby World Cup in Japan.
Joe Schmidt has sent in his final list of 31 players to World rugby. The Kiwi coach has decided not to publicly announce the squad until after next week's final warm-up game with Wales.
Toner is the highest-profile absentee on the leaked list, only Conor Murray has played more minutes for Ireland in this World cup cycle than the Kildare second-row.
Absentees
Other players who may feel hard done by are Jordie Murphy, who has won all but four of his Ireland caps under Schmidt.
Chris Farrell also reportedly misses out. Will Addison's versatility and fine showing at the weekend in the win over a shadow Wales team helping secure his spot on the plane.
Leinster's Luke McGrath will go as cover for Murray, with Marmion missing out. According to the reports Ireland will travel with just two scrum-halves, like England and Australia, whereas New Zealand travel with three.
That means the five half-backs are likely to be Sexton, Carbery and Carty at ten with McGrath and Murray the nines.
Jack McGrath will not be in Japan either, with Kilcoyne putting in an outstanding performance in Cardiff at the weekend and Porter can play both side of the front row. The St Mary's man can't have many complaints.
According to the various reports, Ireland will have a 17/14 forwards to backs ratio in the Rugby World Cup panel.
The leaking of the squad has led to Irish Rugby bringing forward the date for publishing the squad to today.
Interesting change of plans for Ireland, as they're set to officially name their 31-man World Cup squad imminently.
Was initially scheduled to be named on Sunday.— Murray Kinsella (@Murray_Kinsella) September 2, 2019
Possible Ireland World Cup squad:
Hookers (3): Rory Best, Niall Scannell, Sean Cronin
Props (5): Cian Healy, Dave Kilcoyne, Tadhg Furlong, John Ryan, Andrew Porter
Locks (4): James Ryan, Iain Henderson, Jean Kleyn, Tadhg Beirne
Back rows (5): Peter O’Mahony, CJ Stander, Jack Conan, Josh van der Flier, Rhys Ruddock
Scrum-halves (2): Conor Murray, Luke McGrath
Out-halves (3): Johnny Sexton, Joey Carbery, Jack Carty
Centres (4): Bundee Aki, Robbie Henshaw, Garry Ringrose, Will Addison
Back threes (5): Jacob Stockdale, Rob Kearney, Keith Earls, Jordan Larmour, Andrew Conway.
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