Gallery: The 20 Irish players Joe Schmidt is likely to release for PRO12 duty

We all know Johnny Sexton, and his shiner, should be lining out for Racing Métro this weekend. Many more Irish players will be in action, closer to home.

Joe Schmidt is set to release as many as 22 players from his Six Nations player pool. Thirty eight players were named for the opening two Six Nations fixtures but Schmidt will have most of that number in Galway this week for additional training drills. The likes of Ian Madigan, Jordi Murphy and Cian Healy will be hoping to sharpen their games by playing for Leinster, against Zebre, on Friday but they may have a job convincing the national coach. These are the players you should catch in action this weekend.