Ireland release Craig Casey, Bundee Aki and 11 more back to provinces

Craig Casey is the only member of the match-day squad from the win over Italy to go back to his province.

The IRFU has confirmed that Andy Farrell is has retained 23 players from his wider Six Nations squad and released the other 13 back to their provinces. Casey, who made his debut off the bench in Ireland's 48-10 win, has been released back to Munster along with teammates Chris Farrell, Shane Daly and Andrew Conway. Conor Murray, who missed the France and Italy games, has been retained in the 23-man panel for the two day mini-camp on Thursday and Friday at the IRFU High Performance Centre. [caption id="attachment_225103" align="aligncenter" width="2048"] Craig Casey and Ryan Baird after their Ireland debuts against Italy. (Credit: Sportsfile)[/caption] Ryan Baird, who also made his Ireland debut at the weekend, has been retained along with 14 other Leinster teammates. Jordan Larmour (hip), Ronan Kelleher (ankle) and Tadhg Furlong (ankle) will stick around too, despite all picking up knocks against Italy. With two inter-provincial games coming up, on Friday and Saturday, the provincial panels will welcome back the senior stars and, no doubt, put them to work. Connacht are away to Munster on Friday night so Andy Friend will be grateful to get Bundee Aki, Ultan Dillane and Dave Heffernan back into his ranks. Elsewhere, Leinster get back the quartet of Ed Byrne, Ross Byrne, Rhys Ruddock and Josh van der Flier. Ulster are getting Stuart McCloskey and Tom O’Toole back for their Saturday game against the champions.

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