Murray ruled out of England clash
Conor Murray and Rob Kearney have been ruled out of Ireland's Six Nations clash with England on Saturday so Kieran Marmion and Jared Payne come into the side along with Iain Henderson.
Murray took a knock to his shoulder during the defeat against Wales last Friday which ended Ireland's hopes of regaining the title and the scrum-half will play no part in Dublin.
Fly-half Jonathan Sexton was passed fit after suffering a head injury during the 22-9 loss to Rob Howley's men in Cardiff.
Marmion will make his maiden Six Nations start at the Aviva Stadium, while fit-again full-back Payne features for the first time in the tournament in the absence of Kearney, who will undergo a scan after suffering a knee injury.
Henderson gets the nod in the second row ahead of Devin Toner, who is joined by the uncapped Andrew Conway on the bench.
Luke McGrath has also been named among the replacements to offer cover at scrum-half as Ireland aim to deny the champions a record 19th consecutive win and another Grand Slam.
Here's the Ireland team for #IrevEng @SixNationsRugby #TeamOfUs #shouldertoshoulder pic.twitter.com/1vklWYkz7E
— Irish Rugby (@IrishRugby) March 16, 2017
Ireland: Jared Payne, Keith Earls, Garry Ringrose, Robbie Henshaw, Simon Zebo, Jonathan Sexton, Kieran Marmion; Jack McGrath, Rory Best, Tadhg Furlong, Donnacha Ryan, Iain Henderson, CJ Stander, Sean O'Brien, Jamie Heaslip.
Replacements: Niall Scannell, Cian Healy, John Ryan, Devin Toner, Peter O'Mahony, Luke McGrath, Paddy Jackson, Andrew Conway.
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I agree.
I’d like to know what constitutes a 208 week ban though?
Must the eyeball be dislodged? Hanging by a vein?
Go to commentsAlso a Bristol fan and echo your sentiments.
I love watching Bristol but their approach will only get them so far I think. Exeter played like this when they first got promoted to the prem and had intermittent success, it wasn't until they wised up and played a more balanced game that they became a consistently top side.
I really want Bristol to continue playing this brand of rugby and I don't mind them running it from under their posts but I don't think they need to do it every single time. They need to be just a little bit more selective about when and where on the pitch they play. Every game they put themselves under so much needless pressure by turning the ball over under their posts trying to do kamikaze moves when it's not required. By all means run it from your goal line if there is a chance for a counter attack, we all want to see Bristol running in 100m tries from under their posts but I think until they learn when to do it and when to be pragmatic, they are unlikely to win the premiership.
Defense has been a real positive from Bristol, they've shown a lot of improvement there... And I will say that I think this kamikaze strategy they employ is a very good one for a struggling side and could be employed by Newcastle. It's seems to have turned around Gloucester's fortunes. The big advantage is even if you don't have the biggest and best players, what you have is cohesion. This is why Scotland keep battering England. England have better individuals but they look muddled as a team, trying to play a mixed strategy under coaches who lack charisma, the team has no identity. Scotland come out and give it full throttle from 1-15 even if they struggle against the top sides, sides like England and Wales who lack that identity drown under the relentless will and synergy of the Scots. If Newcastle did the same they could really surprise some people, I know the weather is bad up there but it hasn't bothered the Scots. Bristol can learn from Scotland too, Pat is on to something when he says the following but Scotland don't play test matches like headless chickens. They still play with the same level of clarity and ambition Bristol do but they are much better at picking their moments. They needed to go back to this mad game to get their cohesion back after a couple of seasons struggling but I hope they get a bit wiser from matches like Leinster and La Rochelle.
“If there’s clarity on what you’re trying to do as a team you can win anything.”
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