Healy ruled out of otherwise full strength Irish squad

DUBLIN : Ireland prop Cian Healy was ruled out of the World Cup through injury on Sunday as coach Andy Farrell named an otherwise full strength squad looking to finally banish their miserable tournament record.

Healy hobbled off during Saturday's scrappy 17-13 warm-up win over Samoa. The loosehead prop, who became Ireland's most capped forward with his 125th appearance, has played an key role off the bench in closing some of Ireland's biggest recent wins.

The Leinster's prop's absence from what would have been his fourth World Cup opens the door for Munster's Jeremy Loughman, who was a late addition to the wider squad due to concerns over fellow backup frontrow Dave Kilcoyne's fitness.

Ireland travel to France as the world's top ranked side, Six Nations Grand Slam champions and winners of their last 13 games. That meant Farrell only had a couple of tight calls on the edges of an extremely settled 33-man squad.

All bar two of the 31 players who featured in the Grand Slam campaign made the cut.

The other absentee Kieran Treadwell, who played just seven Six Nations minutes, was released from the wider squad earlier this month following the emergence of young Leinster lock Joe McCarthy.

Farrell opted to bring 18 forwards and 15 backs, making room for Stuart McCloskey to travel as a fourth out-and-out centre and one of the few backs not expected to cover multiple positions in an ultra-versatile squad.

That squeezed Cian Prendergast out of contention for a spot among the forwards. As expected, Keith Earls got the nod over Jacob Stockdale elsewhere in the backs.

Ireland, who have never gone beyond the quarter-finals at a World Cup, open their Pool B fixtures against Romania on Sept.9.

Ireland squad

Forwards: Ryan Baird, Finlay Bealham,