Kilcoyne: No moping around allowed in Ireland camp

Dave Kilcoyne made his Ireland debut 10 years ago and has won a cap every year since.

That's not a bad run for a front-row forward.

The 33-year-old Limerick man was on media duty on Tuesday afternoon and in general, but not always, that hints that the player is at least in the mix for a place in the match-day squad.

"That's funny, Andrew Conway said the opposite," Kilcoyne, who hasn’t been in Andy Farrell’s 23 for the games against Wales and France, said with a smile.

"He said he's been doing media before and then he wasn't involved, so I won't be taking that for granted."

Stuck on 45 caps since the summer Test against the USA, Kilcoyne recently lined out for the 200th time for Munster.

Eager to stress the point that the entire squad is invested in what’s best for Ireland, there still has to be a sense of personal ambition.

Where does the loosehead think he features in the head coach’s thoughts, with Andrew Porter and Cian Healy currently ahead in the pecking order before this Sunday's third Guinness Six Nations match against Italy?

"As I said, Faz is very honest with the players both as a collective and individually," he said.

"I have areas I need to work on and I'm trying to do that as best I can every day at training.

"You come in here and you try to get better every day, and the coaches are very honest with you on areas in which you need to get better and it's up to you then.

"It's not criticism. They obviously think you are capable of getting better if they're giving you that feedback, so it's how you choose to look at it.

"It's up to the player then to work on what they've given you, so yeah, I've had work-ons, as most players in here have had, and I'm trying to get them better every day in training.

"The coaches examine