Dan Sheehan fully fit and relishing competition at hooker

Ireland hooker Dan Sheehan says he's "100%" fit and ready to return to the side in this Saturday's Guinness Six Nations meeting with Italy in Rome (live on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player).

The Leinster man missed out on the Round 2 win against France at the Aviva Stadium due to a hamstring injury, but looks set to return to the matchday squad for the trip to Stadio Olimpico, with Rob Herring still following the return to play protocols for a brain injury suffered in the 32-19 win.

"Should be all good, trained fully last week and then also yesterday and this morning," the 24-year-old said.

"The body is back to 100%, so good to go this weekend I think. Exciting challenge ahead.

"Just towards the end of the week things didn't go right. It's probably the first time I had to face an injury since I made my Leinster debut. I think it's the first game I've missed or not been available. So that was a bit of a challenge to get over.

"But it showed we have a lot of squad depth and we have a lot of competition for places. One person misses out and two lads are well capable of filling it."

With the Six Nations returning from last week's break, Ireland regathered in camp this week as attention turns to Round 3 and Italy on Saturday.

Captain Johnny Sexton remains a doubt due to a groin injury suffered in the win against France, and wasn't seen during this morning's media access to training.

Should Sexton miss out, it would almost certainly see Ross Byrne promoted to the starting side after he supplemented the captain from the bench in the opening two rounds.

Byrne has bolted back into the Irish squad in recent months, having been down the pecking order of Irish 10s for much of 2021 and 2022.

And Sheehan says his Leinster team-mate hasn't got the credit he