Ready to rock.

Ireland look set to be at near full strength for their Six Nations opener with Wales on Saturday week with everyone in the squad except Iain Henderson set to train fully this week.

There were concerns heading into the tournament regarding the fitness of the likes of Joey Carbery, Josh van der Flier, Jordan Larmour, and Tadhg Furlong but boss Andy Farrell has confirmed all of them are expected to be available for the Wales game.

Henderson likely won’t train this week but his involvement in the Wales game is yet to be determined.

“To sum it up, we expect everyone bar Iain Henderson to be training fully with us by the end of the week,” Farrell told us this morning at the launch of the 2022 Six Nations championship.

“Iain Henderson, that’s not to say he’s out of the Wales game yet, we’ll take it day by day and see how we go.”

Joey Carbery hasn’t played since injuring his elbow against Wasps before Christmas but the Munster playmaker is fit again and raring to go.

“Joey has been keeping fighting fit from week two after his injury to his elbow, so he’s fit as a fiddle,” Farrell added.

“He has been doing all the ball skills, etc., constantly and the only thing he has had to wait is to get the all-clear to get back into contact and he’s had that now so it’s all systems go.”

James Lowe was not named in Ireland’s initial squad following a hamstring injury and is “gutted” according to Farrell, but there is a chance the winger will feature in the later rounds.

“We’ll see what his fitness is like when he comes back,” Farrell said.

“We’re expecting it to be a few weeks, we don’t know how many, just as yet. I suppose with every hamstring it takes its own course, doesn’t it, really.

“James, to be fair, is absolutely gutted. He will be doing everything he can to get as fit as he possibly can as soon as he can and we’ll assess it from there.”