1
Uncapped Loughman to start as Ireland make nine changes for Fiji
By Liam Heagney
Andy Farrell has named an Ireland team to face Fiji on Saturday that has nine changes from the XV that defeated South Africa, with the uncapped prop Jeremy Loughman set for a debut start while fellow rookies Cian Prendergast and Jack Crowley are in line to make their Test debuts from the bench.
The six players Farrell has retained in his starting team are centre Stuart McCloskey, wings Robert Baloucone and Mack Hansen, tighthead Tadhg Furlong, lock Tadhg Beirne and back-rower Caelan Doris, who will start at blindside instead of last Saturday’s No8 role.
Furlong has been named as skipper and he will become the 109th player to captain Ireland. The last prop to have this responsibility was Simon Best against Argentina in 2007.
Elsewhere in the XV, Robbie Henshaw has recovered from the hamstring issue that ruled him out late from starting against the Springboks. He takes over from the benched Garry Ringrose. while Jimmy O’Brien, the rookie who made his Test debut off the bench due to that emergency injury reshuffle, will start at full-back for Hugo Keenan.
The other backline changes are at half-back with Joey Carbery partnering Jamison Gibson-Park after they shadowed Johnny Sexton and the now-injured Conor Murray last weekend.
In the pack, Loughman will debut at loosehead in place of Andrew Porter, Rob Herring is at hooker for Dan Sheehan, Kieran Treadwell is starting his first match at lock in five years in place of James Ryan, while the back row sees Nick Timoney and Jack Conan picked in place of the rested Josh van der Flier and Peter O’Mahony. On the bench, Tom O’Toole, Max Deegan and Craig Casey are new to this week’s matchday 23 along with uncapped duo Prendergast and Crowley.
Ireland (vs Fiji, Saturday)
15. Jimmy O’Brien (Leinster/Naas) 1 cap
14. Robert Baloucoune (Ulster/Enniskillen) 3 caps
13. Robbie Henshaw (Leinster/Buccaneers) 60 caps
12. Stuart McCloskey (Ulster/Bangor) 7 caps
11. Mack Hansen (Connacht/Corinthians) 7 caps
10. Joey Carbery (Munster/Clontarf) 36 caps
9. Jamison Gibson-Park (Leinster) 21 caps
1. Jeremy Loughman (Munster/Garryowen)*
2. Rob Herring (Ulster/Ballynahinch) 29 caps
3. Tadhg Furlong (Leinster/Clontarf) 61 caps CAPTAIN
4. Kieran Treadwell (Ulster/Ballymena) 9 caps
5. Tadhg Beirne (Munster/Lansdowne) 34 caps
6. Caelan Doris (Leinster/St Mary’s College) 21 caps
7. Nick Timoney (Ulster/Banbridge) 2 caps
8. Jack Conan (Leinster/Old Belvedere) 31 caps
Replacements:
16. Dan Sheehan (Leinster/Lansdowne) 11 caps
17. Cian Healy (Leinster/Clontarf) 119 caps
18. Tom O’Toole (Ulster/Ballynahinch) 3 caps
19. Cian Prendergast (Connacht/Galwegians)*
20. Max Deegan (Leinster/Lansdowne) 1 cap
21. Craig Casey (Munster/Shannon) 5 caps
22. Jack Crowley (Munster/Cork Constitution)*
23. Garry Ringrose (Leinster/UCD) 45 caps
Trending on RugbyPass
2
'Chaos': Lawes sheds light on the social that ended 2 England careers
3
How much Toulon are paying new signing Antoine Frisch
4
It's the same old South African story for the Sharks
5
Latest Comments
Skelton may be brought back for the Wallabies so that would be the only reason that may hinder Wilson. Easily the form, most skilful and game IQ of any Oz 8. Valentini’s best and favourite position is 6, but lineouts may be an issue with Skelton, Valentini and Wilson. Will be interesting what Schmidt goes for but for me Wilson should be picked on form. Schmidt rewards work rate, skill and consistency. All that glitters every so often won’t be in contention. Greely is one of those players that has a knack of making the right decision. A coach is going to love him because he knows week in week out he’s going to get the job done. The second try Greely wasn’t the guy who made the initial break it was Flook, Greely was at the bottom of the ruck when Flook was off along the sideline. Greely got up and made the effort to catch up with play but also read the play nicely and hit the pass from Campbell at pace and then held the pass beautifully to Ryan.
Go to commentsSharks deserved to be far further back by the last quarter. Their tackling was awful, their set pieces were disappointing, their defensive organization was poor (especially on the Kok side of the D line), they kept making unnecessary errors, and they never looked like cracking the Clermont defense during those first 60m. Masuku kept them in touch, with some help from the Clermont generosity on penalty opportunities. Agree with the writer of this article. It was belligerence, and ability to raise their pressure game just enough, that turned the last quarter into a Bok-style shutout. Clermont have a reputation of not playing the full 80m, and there was a bit of that for sure. But, quite often when the intensity of a team drops off in the last quarter credit is due to the opponent for tiring them out. At 60m, with the Kok try, you thought that just maybe the game was on. At 70m, with the Mapimpi contribution, one felt that Clermont were fading, while facing a team that would maintain the pressure game through the final whistle. Good win in the end, but the Sharks are still playing way below their potential. And with their resources, and a coach that has had enough time to figure things out, they are running out of excuses.
Go to comments