Ireland visit La Santa for Christmas

Ireland have named a 33-man squad for a pre-Christmas training camp in Lanzarote.

The week-long training session at La Santa will run from December 15 to 22 with Irish-based players only as Harlequins' Keith Wood, Bath's Kevin Maggs and Geordan Murphy of Leicester have not been made available by their clubs.

Forwards David Wallace, Paul O'Connell, Emmet Byrne, Jeremy Davidson and Justin Fitzpatrick make returns to the set-up after missing the autumn international wins over Australia, Fiji and Argentina through injury, as do backs Rob Henderson, Anthony Horgan, Tyrone Howe and Jonathan Bell.

The absence of Llanelli scrum-half Guy Easterby paves the way for Leinster's Brian O'Meara and Ulster's Neil Doak to stake their claim in the Royal Bank of Scotland Six Nations squad alongside first-choice number nine Peter Stringer.