Rob Kearney, Jonny Sexton, Peter O’Mahony, Robbie Henshaw and Conor Murray are all back in the starting lineup to face Wales. Dave Kearney, 13. Luke Fitzgerald, 12.
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Some of Ireland’s key players will make their first appearances of the season in Saturday’s warm-up clash against Wales.
Mike Ross finally gets a break with Nathan White getting his first start at tighthead after coming off the bench against Scotland. Nathan White, 4. Iain henderson, 5. That should certainly be the case against a locked and fully loaded Welsh side, likely to perm their first-choice midfield of Jamie Roberts and Scott Williams when Warren Gatland also announces his hand today. The 30-times capped Fitzgerald returned to the Test arena after a hiatus of over two years in the Six Nations-clinching win over Scotland in March on the left wing, and re-appeared there in the win over the same opponents two weeks ago.
Rob Kearney, Fitzgerald, Henshaw are joined in the backline by half-backs Sexton and Murray while Jack McGrath, O’Mahony and Jamie Heaslip and captain Paul O’Connell also started at Murrayfield.
Schmidt’s side begin their World Cup Pool D campaign on Saturday, 19 September by facing Canada in Cardiff. Dave Kilcoyne, Donnacha Ryan and Felix Jones are listed among the replacements along with Leinster’s Limerick-born duo of Sean Cronin and Eoin Reddan.
Paul O’Connell will return to captain his country in his last worldwide on home soil when Ireland continue their World Cup preparations against Wales at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday.
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Elsewhere, Dave Kearney and the versatile pair of Keith Earls and Luke Fitzgerald will be given chances to nail down places in Ireland’s World Cup squad, their last chance to impress before coach Joe Schmidt names his 31-man squad for the tournament.
