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Ireland make six changes to XV after England loss, handing debuts to Keenan and Connors
By Liam Heagney
Andy Farrell has made six changes to his starting Ireland XV to face Italy on Saturday eight months after the 24-12 Six Nations loss to England at Twickenham in their last outing. Leinster winger Hugo Keenan and openside Will Connors come in for their Test level debuts, while Garry Ringrose, Andrew Porter, Tadhg Beirne and Caelan Doris are all recalled.
Jordan Larmour, who is ruled out until next February with a dislocated shoulder, sees his place at full-back taken by Jacob Stockdale, whose repositioning from the left wing opened up the slot for Keenan. In the Ireland midfield, Ringrose will step up for Six Nations duty to combine with Bundee Aki, with Robbie Henshaw dropping to the bench.
Four of the six changes are in the pack. With Tadhg Furlong injured, Andrew Porter is promoted from the Twickenham bench while fit-again Tadhg Beirne comes in for Devin Toner, who was left out of the autumn squad named two weeks ago.
In the back row, Doris returns for his second start at the expense of the benched Peter O'Mahony. Doris' debut lasted just four minutes against Scotland before he was concussed. Also in the back row, Connors comes in for club colleague Josh van der Flier.
Ireland's bench includes David Heffernan, the uncapped Ed Byrne, Finlay Bealham and Jamison Gibson-Park, another Test newcomer. Johnny Sexton will skipper the team after proving his fitness in training.
IRELAND (vs Italy, Saturday)
15. Jacob Stockdale (Ulster/Lurgan) 28 caps
14. Andrew Conway (Munster/Garryowen) 21 caps
13. Garry Ringrose (Leinster/UCD) 29 caps
12. Bundee Aki (Connacht/Galwegians) 26 caps
11. Hugo Keenan (Leinster/UCD) uncapped
10. Jonathan Sexton (Leinster/St Mary’s College) 91 caps CAPTAIN
9. Conor Murray (Munster/Garryowen) 81 caps
1. Cian Healy (Leinster/Clontarf) 98 caps
2. Rob Herring (Ulster/Ballynahinch) 11 caps
3. Andrew Porter (Leinster/UCD) 26 caps
4. Tadhg Beirne (Munster/Lansdowne) 13 caps
5. James Ryan (Leinster/UCD) 26 caps
6. Caelan Doris (Leinster/UCD) 2 caps
7. Will Connors (Leinster/UCD) uncapped
8. CJ Stander (Munster/Shannon) 41 caps
Replacements
16. Dave Heffernan (Connacht/Buccaneers) 1 cap
17. Ed Byrne (Leinster/UCD) uncapped
18. Finlay Bealham (Connacht/Corinthians) 9 caps
19. Ultan Dillane (Connacht/Corinthians) 15 caps
20. Peter O’Mahony (Munster/Cork Constitution) 67 caps
21. Jamison Gibson Park (Leinster) uncapped
22. Ross Byrne (Leinster/UCD) 6 caps
23. Robbie Henshaw (Leinster/Buccaneers) 43 caps
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Latest Comments
I think we need to get innovative with the new laws.
Now red cards are only 20 minutes, Razor should send Finau on a head hunting mission to hospitalise their 10 with a shoulder to the chops.
Give the conspiracy theorists a win.
Go to commentsEngland played well enough to win but couldnt score when they needed to and couldnt defend a couple of X-Factor moments from Telea which was ultimately the difference. They needed to hold the ball more and make the AB's make more tackles. Territorially they were good for the first 60. Defending their lead and playing pragmatic rugby in the last 20 was silly. The AB's always had the potential to come back. England still have a long way to go, definite progress would have been shown had they won but it seems they are still stuck where they were shortly after the six nations and their tour to NZ
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