Sean O’Brien has been chosen to captain Ireland in their second World Cup warm-up game against Scotland, on Saturday at the Aviva Stadium (Landsdowne Road).
It’s a new-look Irish side, with 14 changes from the team that beat Wales at Millennium Stadium last week, 35-21.
O’Brien is picked at no.8, and although he usually plays at flanker, he has played everywhere in the back row for Leinster and Ireland. He is joined in the back row by Chris Henry and debutant Jack Conan.
With Tommy O’Donnell out of the World Cup, after suffering a bad hip injury in the game against Wales, there are still places in the loose forwards up for grabs.
Simon Zebo, Tommy Bowe and Luke Fitzgerald form a very potent back three. Zebo is picked out of position at fullback, though he’s a very versatile player.
This is only Fitzgerald’s second match back in an Irish jersey since injuring himself against New Zealand in 2013. Until recently, Fitzgerald has not been picked due to injury concerns.
Gordon D’Arcy makes his first appearance for Ireland since the win over Australia last November. D’Arcy becomes Ireland’s longest serving player, breaking Mike Gibson’s record.
Gibson played between 1964-1979, while D’Arcy was first picked as a teenager back in 1999. If D’Arcy does make the 2015 World Cup squad, it will be his fourth such tournament, after appearing at the 1999, 2007 and 2011 World Cups (he failed to make the 2003 squad).
D’Arcy is partnered with Jared Payne in the centres. Keith Earls put in a terrific performance against Wales last week, and both will be wanting to at least equal his efforts.
Ian Madigan is picked at out-half. Paddy Jackson failed to really impress at five-eighth in the Welsh match, so Madigan still has a good chance of making the position his own. Jonny Sexton has yet to feature in Ireland’s warm-up campaign.
Mike Ross is the only survivor from the starting line-up against Wales. Interestingly, Ross is now the only player to have never been dropped by Schmidt since he took over as Ireland coach. He’s joined in the front row by Sean Cronin and David Kilcoyne. Devin Toner and Dan Tuohy pack down in the engine room.
Paul O’Connell lines out up the bench. It’s a very capable team, showing great strength in depth.
Ireland will want to build on their impressive performance against, an albeit inexperienced, Welsh side. Again the results are less important but the players will want to impress.
So far, Rob Kearney, Jonny Sexton, Conor Murray, Peter O’Mahony and Cian Healy have yet to be selected for Ireland’s warm-up games, with Healy the only major injury concern. All five should be in Ireland’s starting line-up for the World Cup big games, barring injury.
Ireland team to face Scotland
15. S Zebo (Munster), 14. T Bowe (Ulster), 13. J Payne (Ulster), 12. G D’Arcy (Leinster), 11. L Fitzgerald (Leinster), 10. I Madigan (Leinster), 9. I Boss (Leinster), 8. D Kilcoyne (Munster), 7. S Cronin (Leinster), 6. M Ross (Leinster), 5. D Tuohy (Ulster), 4. D Toner (Leinster), 3. J Conan (Leinster), 2. C Henry (Ulster), 1. S O’Brien (capt, Leinster)
Replacements: 16. R Strauss (Leinster), 17. M Bent (Leinster), 18. N White (Connacht), 19. P O’Connell (Munster), 20. J Murphy (Leinster), 21. E Reddan (Leinster), 22. P Jackson (Ulster), 23. D Kearney (Leinster)
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