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Ireland make 9 changes to XV to face Georgia, uncapped Shane Daly makes bench
By Online Editors
Andy Farrell has made nine changes to his starting Ireland XV against Georgia this Sunday following last Saturday's 18-7 round two Nations Cup defeat to England as Twickenham. Four of the switches are in the backs. There is a fresh half-back pairing in Conor Murray and Billy Burns who take over from Jamison Gibson-Park and Ross Byrne, a change that heralds the first Ireland start for Burns after two appearances off the bench.
The other two backline changes see Stuart McCloskey slotting in at inside centre for a rare Test cap while Jacob Stockdale, a try-scorer last weekend from the bench, will start at full-back. His inclusion means James Lowe drops out, last Saturday's full-back Hugo Keenan switches to right wing with Keith Earls, who wore No14 in London, moving to No11.
In the pack, Andrew Porter holds on and will form a revised front row with Finlay Bealham and Rob Herring. James Ryan continues as captain but will now partner Iain Henderson, who steps up for Quinn Roux.
Then in the back row, CJ Stander is the only repeat starter as Will Connors comes in for Peter O'Mahony and Tadhg Beirne starts for Caelan Doris. To accommodate Beirne at blindside, Stander has switched from six to No8.
Uncapped Shane Daly, who won the Energia All-Ireland League with Cork Constitution in 2019, is included on a bench containing Kieran Marmion and Byrne as fellow backline cover. Dave Heffernan, Cian Healy, John Ryan, Roux and O’Mahony are the forward replacements.
IRELAND (vs Georgia, Sunday)
15. Jacob Stockdale (Lurgan/Ulster) 31 caps
14. Hugo Keenan (UCD/Leinster) 4 caps
13. Chris Farrell (Young Munster/Munster) 12 caps
12. Stuart McCloskey (Bangor/Ulster) 3 caps
11. Keith Earls (Young Munster/Munster) 86 caps
10. Billy Burns (UIster) 2 caps
9. Conor Murray (Garryowen/Munster) 85 caps
1. Finlay Bealham (Buccaneers/Connacht) 13 caps
2. Rob Herring (Ballynahinch/Ulster) 14 caps
3. Andrew Porter (UCD/Leinster) 30 caps
4. Iain Henderson (Academy/Ulster) 56 caps
5. James Ryan (UCD/Leinster) 30 caps Captain
6. Tadhg Beirne (Lansdowne/Munster) 16 caps
7. Will Connors (Leinster/UCD) 4 caps
8. CJ Stander (Shannon/Munster) 44 caps
Replacements
16. Dave Heffernan (Buccaneers/Connacht) 4 caps
17. Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster) 102 caps
18. John Ryan (Cork Constitution/Munster) 21 caps
19. Quinn Roux (Galwegians/Connacht) 14 caps
20. Peter O’Mahony (Cork Constitution/Munster) 71 caps
21. Kieran Marmion (Corinthians/Connacht) 27 caps
22. Ross Byrne (UCD/Leinster) 9 caps
23. Shane Daly (Cork Constitution/Munster) uncapped
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Latest Comments
More indecision and excuses from Razor.
You've given a spot at 6 to Finau whom you haven't even had the courage to use off the bench in the last two games. Now the young enforcer is going into a big much with no rugby, we should expect a similar result to how Aumua struggled to impact a game after he'd hardly been given any chances of the bench either.
Weve now dropped a back three player who also wasn't even given any game time off the bench for someone coming in cold when they really need to have been playing constantly to perform at their best. There are just so many better pictures that should have been present rather than this mickey mouse selection.
I really hope Finau can overcome this, it won't be the first time he's had to. How is the bench even made up? Could you not just have included these changes in the article as well? I actually like BB coming back in, it highlights how courageous he is after sitting out through another concussion that could just as easily sent him back into months of symptoms again.
Dmac was also off his game last week, as was Ratima, with the poor platform Razor and his team have been setting the players up with. He needs to freedom to clear his mind from the clutter that saw him make so many bad decisions last week. It will still probably be a net loss for the team performance not having him on from the start but it should be better for them in the long run if he's allowed to just come on late and play his game trying to claw things back for the team.
With Roigard starting that might prove an outlet for the team to actually get on top first however. Along with Ardie busting a gut in his new role and emptying the tank by halftime, and being replaced by another new star, might mean that Dmac is just icing on the cake at the end.
Go to commentsLet's hope so, that was a fantastic game.
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