Second-row Devin Toner is the surprise omission from Ireland’s 31-man Rugby World Cup squad, with head coach Joe Schmidt selecting the South African-born Jean Kleyn instead.

Kleyn only made his debut against Italy and started in the heavy 57-15 defeat to England at Twickenham last month.

Scrum-half Kieran Marmion has also been left out, with Luke McGrath the preferred choice, while utility back Will Addison did not make the cut, despite his versatility and impressing against Wales.

The squad is captained by Rory Best who will play at a fourth Rugby World Cup having been involved in the 2007, 2011, 2015 editions.

Six of the squad named featured at the previous two Rugby World Cups (2011 & 2015) – Sean Cronin, Keith Earls, Cian Healy, Rob Kearney, Conor Murray and Johnny Sexton, while a further five played in the 2015 tournament – Tadhg Furlong, Iain Henderson, Robbie Henshaw, Peter O’Mahony and Rhys Ruddock.

Ireland are in Pool A and will play Scotland, Japan, Russia and Samoa. Ireland’s opening fixture is against Scotland at the Yokohama Stadium in Tokyo.

Six days later Ireland will take on tournament hosts Japan in Shizuoka before playing Russia in Kobe the following Thursday. Ireland’s final pool game is against Samoa on Saturday 12th in Fukuoka.