Eight Ulster players in Ireland squad for Six Nations

The Ireland squad has been named for the first two rounds of the Six Nations.

It includes the uncapped trio of Niall Scannell, Rory Scannell and Andrew Conway.

Eight Ulster players are also in Joe Schmidt's 40-man squad: Rory Best, Iain Henderson, Tommy Bowe, Craig Gilroy, Paddy Jackson, Luke Marshall, Stuart McCloskey and Andrew Trimble.

Ireland start their campaign against Scotland on 4 February before taking on Italy on 11 February.

Joe Schmidt said: "It has been good to watch the players over the past two months and great to see many of them doing so well.

"As always there were some difficult decisions but we feel that the group is a good mix with a number of key players having good experience and a number of new players having gained valuable experience and confidence during the summer tour to South Africa and the recent autumn series."