Sexton misses out again for Ireland
Jonathan Sexton has not recovered in time for Ireland's Six Nations trip to Italy this weekend as he continues to struggle with a calf injury.
The fly-half sustained the problem in Leinster's Champions Cup draw with Castres on January 20.
Although he returned to full training last week, Sexton did not feature as Ireland fell to a 27-22 defeat against Scotland at Murrayfield on Saturday, and he will miss out again in Rome with Joe Schmidt making two changes to his XV.
Donnacha Ryan replaces Iain Henderson - who has a slight hamstring injury - at lock, while the experienced Cian Healy comes in at prop instead of Jack McGrath, who drops to the bench.
"Donnacha is a pretty good line-out operator, he's a good technician in that area and a good tactician too," Schmidt said in Thursday's media conference.
Here's the Ireland team for @SixNationsRugby v @Federugby #TeamOfUs #ShoulderToShoulder pic.twitter.com/Em9HTpNydA
— Irish Rugby (@IrishRugby) February 9, 2017
"We're not playing catch-up entirely, that's one of the great things about this championship - as long as we keep getting better we can stay in control of our destiny.
"We're focused on the immediate challenge and trying to do the best we can.
"To get that real certainty you want the more time together you can get. You try to replicate that in training but there's nothing like going out on the pitch and trying to cope."
Ireland starting XV: Rob Kearney, Keith Earls, Garry Ringrose, Robbie Henshaw, Simon Zebo, Paddy Jackson, Conor Murray; Cian Healy, Rory Best (captain), Tadhg Furlong, Donnacha Ryan, Devin Toner, CJ Stander, Sean O'Brien, Jamie Heaslip.
Replacements: Niall Scannell, Jack McGrath, John Ryan, Ultan Dillane, Josh van der Flier, Kieran Marmion, Ian Keatley, Craig Gilroy.
Latest Comments
Nah hes a journeyman. Right call
Go to commentsAgreed for the most part. And perhaps Dmac needed a period were he is the 'Hobson's choice' too.
Yes and no, they main concern I had from the situation is Razor didn't really explain why they had developed differing opinions, had he? I've seen too many things happen in life to jump the gun. Fall all we know it was a locked in choice before they found the difference last year and played out this year to see if they were recoverable. I can certainly see where it would be a valid criticism to suggest he spent too much time reviewing his players tripping overseas and not enough work with his team at that time. But things like Tony Brown not even being contacted in the lead up to the naming of the squad are endemic in the union, and for much just as much blame should be laid on someone like Wayne Smith. Some like Mitch would have been aval at the same time too I'd think.
Ultimately I see MacDs time at the Blues much as I saw Ian Fosters time at the Chiefs. Heavily overshadowed by their successors but you could find something good in there if you wanted. Same here. This will play out.
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