Andy Farrell has made it clear that Bundee Aki and James Lowe are part of his plans for next season, leading up to the World Cup in Australia.
Both players are out of contract at the end of this season, with reported interest from abroad.
And asked if he expects the players to be staying in Ireland and part of his plans, the Ireland coach said the pair remain as important as ever.
"They've been fantastic players for us, servants for Irish rugby, and will continue to be," he replied.
"Obviously that [their contract] is not up to me to comment on, but I’m sure these things will get done down the line."
Lowe had a disrupted start to the championship, with the 33-year-old dropped for the opening defeat to France in Paris, but he looked back to his best a week later against Italy before a groin injury suffered against England ruled him out for the rest of the campaign.
Aki, meanwhile, will make his first appearance of the Six Nations this weekend after being named on the bench for Saturday’s finale against Scotland.
The 35-year-old was suspended for Ireland’s opening three games after he was banned for verbally abusing match officials in January, while he wasn’t selected for last week’s win against Wales.
And Farrell says the Connacht centre is bursting to get a taste of the 2026 championship.
"He's in great form. He's one of those players who makes the dressing room feel right and he's certainly done that over the last two weeks," the Ireland coach added.
"When it comes to big games, there’s a twinkle in some people’s eyes, you just know he’s going to turn up; Been there and done that as far as big weeks and preparation and all of that.
"And on top of that, he’s been pretty good for us coming off the bench as far as energy is concerned. I’m sure he’ll bring more of that on Saturday."
Aki will be 37-years-old when the World Cup in Australia rolls around, but Farrell insists he has full faith in the two-time British and Irish Lion’s ability to make it to that tournament in top condition.
He said: "He never whinges about anything. He’s not somebody who’s minding his body at all.
"For me, the definition of age is somebody slowing down, it’s somebody who’s minding their body, it’s somebody who can’t do what he used to do, someone who is doing more recovery, rehab, all that type of stuff, so something falls by the wayside on the rugby part that’s been so important to them like extra skill work or extra fitness work.
"If you look at Bundee [below] or we talked about Jamison [Gibson-Park] last week, as far as their attitude and the way they go about themselves around the place, they’re getting stronger and stronger."
Farrell played a straight bat when asked about comments from the Scottish camp that Ireland are "there for the taking" on Saturday in his team’s Triple Crown decider.
And he was equally unrevealing when asked about his own team’s dominance of this fixture, and whether there is an extra incentive to keep that 11-game winning run against Scotland going before their World Cup meeting next year.
"Honestly, I understand the question but we don’t see it like that," he replied.
"As far as Scotland’s concerned, there is genuine respect that we have every single year.
"We say it the whole time, they’re a fantastic squad and fantastic team and given any type of room to be able to play the game that they want to play, they’ll beat anyone in the world on their day, as they’ve proved.
"So that’s how we approach every single game and this one’s no different."
Chief among the Scottish threats is Finn Russell, who Farrell described as "a complete player", having got to work with him up close and personal on last summer’s British and Irish Lions tour.
"Getting to know him, first and foremost, he's a great lad, cares about his rugby," said Farrell.
"People think he's laid back but he knows what he's after. He understands how to run a team and you can see why he's been so successful and why people rate him so highly.
"I'm sure he'll be wanting to put that on the field on Saturday."
Given the brutal start Ireland made to the championship with their 36-12 defeat to France in Paris, the fact that they’ve made it to the final round with even a sliver of chance of winning the title is something Farrell (above) is taking pride in.
Asked to rate the first four rounds out of 10, the Englishman said he’d put it around the "six-and-a-half or seven" mark, before saying he hopes a big weekend could take it up to nine".
He said: "Certainly room to do better. We’ve had one really good performance, but we know that in Test match rugby it all doesn’t go your way, you’ve got to find a way as well and all the best teams have got a track record of doing that.
"Three [wins] out of three, obviously getting over the disappointment of the one before that, but still room for improvement and putting ourselves in a position to see whether we can perform at our best when it really matters.
"I suppose that’s a position that you want to test yourself and put yourself in."
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