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Andy Farrell makes three changes for title-chasing Ireland
By Liam Heagney
Title-chasing Andy Farrell has made three changes to his Ireland team to face Scotland this Saturday in Dublin following last weekend’s 32-15 Guinness Six Nations round four win away to England. A win over the Scots will guarantee the Irish the Tripe Crown and lift them ahead of France before that night’s closing match in the tournament, the meeting of the Grand Slam-chasing French and the wounded English in Paris.
There was always definitely going to be one change to this Ireland Six Nations team to face the Scots as James Ryan was lost to a concussion just over a minute into the win over England after he was clattered by the red-carded Charlie Ewels. Iain Henderson, who came off the bench at Twickenham to play 78 minutes as an early sub, will now start in Ryan’s place.
However, Farrell has decided to make two other changes to his Ireland XV. He has opted to include Mack Hansen on the right wing as Andrew Conway, who was most impressive versus England, was managed this week with a knee niggle.
The third change is in the back row where Peter O’Mahony, who wore the No6 jersey for the round four game in England after getting the shirt in the previous round against Italy, has been pushed down to the bench with Jack Conan, a try-scorer in London, chosen to start.
This inclusion of Conan at No8 sees Caelan Doris revert to six, the position where he started the championship. O’Mahony’s demotion to the bench is one of two changes to the replacements as Kieran Treadwell is chosen as the sub second row following Henderson’s promotion into the starting XV.
IRELAND (vs Scotland, Saturday)
15. Hugo Keenan (Leinster/UCD) 19 caps
14. Mack Hansen (Connacht) 3 caps
13. Garry Ringrose (Leinster/UCD) 41 caps
12. Bundee Aki (Connacht/Galwegians) 36 caps
11. James Lowe (Leinster) 11 caps
10. Johnny Sexton (Leinster/St Mary’s College) 104 caps CAPTAIN
9. Jamison Gibson-Park (Leinster) 16 caps
1. Cian Healy (Leinster/Clontarf) 115 caps
2. Dan Sheehan (Leinster/Lansdowne) 6 caps
3. Tadhg Furlong (Leinster/Clontarf) 56 caps
4. Tadhg Beirne (Munster/Lansdowne) 29 caps
5. Iain Henderson (Ulster/Academy) 67 caps
6. Caelan Doris (Leinster/St Mary’s College) 16 caps
7. Josh van der Flier (Leinster/UCD) 39 caps
8. Jack Conan (Leinster/Old Belvedere) 26 caps
Replacements
16. Rob Herring (Ulster/Ballynahinch) 25 caps
17. Dave Kilcoyne (Munster/UL Bohemians) 47 caps
18. Finlay Bealham (Connacht/Buccaneers) 22 caps
19. Kieran Treadwell (Ulster/Ballymena) 4 caps
20. Peter O’Mahony (Munster/Cork Constitution) 83 caps
21. Conor Murray (Munster/Garryowen) 95 caps
22. Joey Carbery (Munster/Clontarf) 31 caps
23. Robbie Henshaw (Leinster/Buccaneers) 56 caps
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Anybody still in doubt about WR's blatant protection and favoritism of SA now knows the truth. SA would be ranked 7th or 8th with neutral officiating.
Go to commentsSpeed of game and stoppages in play remain a problem SK. Set piece oriented teams generally want a lower ball in play time, and they have various strategies to try and get it - legal and illegal!
They want to maximize their power in short bursts, then recover for the next effort. Teams like Bristol are the opposite. They want high ball in play to keep the oppo moving, they want quicker resolution at set pieces, and if anyone is to kick the ball out, they want it to be the other team.
The way rugby is there will always be a place for set piece based teams, but progression in the game is associated far more with the Black Ferns/Bristol style.
The scrum is a crucible. We have still not solved the problem of scrums ending in FKs and penalties, sometimes with yellow cards attached. A penalty ought not to be the aim of a scrum, a dominant SP should lead to greater attacking opportunity as long as the offence is not dangerous but technical in nature.
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