Joe Schmidt has admitted his latest ever Ireland team selection has proved “unsettling and frustrating” after Simon Zebo failed a last-ditch fitness test before Saturday’s match against France.
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O’Brien returns to the starting XV after sitting out the Wales game with a hamstring injury, replacing Tommy O’Donnell who was taken off with a head injury in Sunday’s 16-all draw with Wales.
Dave Kearney replaces Keith Earls on the wing, the Irish RFU said in a news release on Thursday.
Schmidt says Zebo and Earls aren’t playing because they don’t want to risk them adding they delayed the team naming to give them every chance of making it…
Les Bleus’ venerated new head coach Guy Noves, who guided Toulouse to four Heineken Cup titles, has vowed to restore France’s traditional free-flowing attacking verve – and Vakatawa fits that bill.
“His [Zebo’s] knee was just a little bit sore and he couldn’t stretch out fully”. One of the great things about sport is nobody is utterly confident because with the vagaries of sport you just don’t know what that result is going to be at the end of the 80 minutes. “Compressed my neck a bit but I’ve turned it around and I’m ready to go”, Sexton said.
“I think Max Medard, with his left foot from full-back, is a really strong kicking option”.
“They’ve got risky guys across the backline”.
“I’ve played against Danty a few times when I was in Paris, and he’s pretty similar to Mathieu Bastareaud in stature”.
‘It’s one of the toughest places to go in global rugby.
“Just because we’ve had a little purple patch against them doesn’t mean anything now”.
15 Rob Kearney; 14 Andrew Trimble, 13 Jared Payne, 12 Robbie Henshaw, 11 Dave Kearney; 10 Johnny Sexton, 9 Conor Murray; 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 Sean O’Brien, 6 CJ Stander; 5 Mike McCarthy, 4 Devin Toner; 3 Nathan White, 2 Rory Best (capt), 1 Jack McGrath.
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Sean Cronin has been dropped from the matchday 23 as Richardt Strauss is selected as the replacement hooker while Eoin Reddan comes back on to the bench instead of Kieran Marmion.
