Winners & Losers: Ireland's Six Nations Squad

Ahead of Ireland's Six Nation squad announcement we look at some of the winners and losers. 

Winners:

Peter O'Mahony: 

Peter has been named to lead the side at the 2024 Six Nations tournament after previous captain Jonathan Sexton retired from International rugby. O'Mahony has been part of the Ireland setup since 2009 when he represented them in the u20 Six nations, also captaining the side. O'Mahony has also featured in the British and Irish Lions squad and notably in the 2023 Rugby World Cup squad. The Munster player has been a regular starter in the side and his presence on and off the field is always felt. With his experience and character there is no doubt that he will be a good leader as he has shown in the 10 previous times when he captained the side. 

Thomas Ahern:

Although Thomas is named as an additional training panellist, his call up to the squad is a well-desrved one. Ahern made his Ireland debut in 2019 at the u20 World Championship in the final pool game. Furthermore, Ahern was a standout performer for the Ireland U20s squad in the 2020 6 Nations as they won all three games of the curtailed competition. The young second rower made his debut for Munster in 2020 after working his way up in the Munster academy. Head Coach Farrell has recognised the young man's talent and will hopefully give him a chance to prove himself even further.

Losers:

John Hodnett:

A young player who has all the talent and has certainly been showing it off in the Munster jersey putting in good consistent performances for the past two years. The back-row forward had an outstanding campaign last season, scoring the winning try in the URC final. Hodnett made his debut for Ireland in 2018 and was a standout performer for the 2019 Grand Slam-winning Ireland U20s in the 6 Nations and World Rugby U20 Championship. John and his supporters will certainly be upset that he did not recieve the callup from Farrell.