Joe Schmidt has picked his side to face Wales in the first match of Ireland’s warm-up series for the World Cup, at the Millennium Stadium this Saturday.
The team has an experimental look to it, with captain Jaimie Heaslip and prop Mike Ross the only frontline players selected.
Keith Earls and Donncha Ryan make their first appearances in an Irish jersey in nearly three years (both have dealt with a number of injuries that have kept them out of the team), in what will be their first match under Schmidt.
There is capable experience on the bench, with Rory Best, Ian Madigan and Simon Zebo featuring.
The most important selection is Paddy Jackson at out-half. Schmidt will want to see how he marshals a team. With Jonny Sexton the first choice out-half, the main battle will be to decide his replacement, with Jackson and Madigan the top two contenders.
While a number of players are guaranteed to start in the World Cup games (Rob Kearney, Tommy Bowe, Jonny Sexton, Conor Murray, Heaslip, Sean O’Brien, Paul O’Connell, Best, Ross) there are still some positions that are up for grabs, especially at centre, where no player has made significant inroads. Schmidt is required to pick a squad of 31 by the end of August.
Ireland will play four warm-up matches, against Wales (twice), Scotland and England. The World Cup starts for Ireland on September 19, when they face Canada. Ireland are also matched against Italy, Romania and France in Pool D.
Ireland won seven of their eight games in the 2014-15 season, with wins against big guns like Australia, South Africa, England and France. Their only loss was against Wales en route to the 2015 Six Nations trophy.
The players will have a tough time in the warm-up games, while wanting to impress the selectors (Fergus McFadden has stated that the players are treating the match as a full Test rather than as a friendly) they won’t want to risk serious injury which will keep them out of the tournament.
Cian Healy is Ireland’s only injury concern at this moment, with management confident that he will be fit in time for the tournament proper. Schmidt’s will be hoping Ireland get through the warm-up games with a good run-out for the players and no injuries. Results are rather irrelevant.
Ireland
15 Felix Jones, 14 Andrew Trimble, 13 Keith Earls, 12 Darren Cave, 11 Fergus McFadden, 10 Paddy Jackson, 9 Eoin Reddan, 8 Jamie Heaslip (c), 7 Tommy O’Donnell, 6 Jordi Murphy, 5 Donnacha Ryan, 4 Iain Henderson, 3 Mike Ross, 2 Richardt Strauss, 1 Jack McGrath
Replacements: 16 Rory Best, 17 Dave Kilcoyne, 18 Michael Bent, 19 Dan Tuohy, 20 Chris Henry, 21 Kieran Marmion, 22 Ian Madigan, 23 Simon Zebo
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