Search icon

Rugby

25th Sep 2015

Ireland make plethora of changes for Romanian rendezvous

Freshening up the troops

Patrick McCarry

No start for Robbie Henshaw.

Joe Schmidt is playing a wise hand ahead of Sunday’s World Cup clash with Romania [4:45pm kick-off].

The Ireland coach has made 12 changes from the starting line-up that soundly defeated Canada in their tournament opener.

The only players to keep their jerseys in the XV are Keith Earls and Jamie Heaslip, who captains the side from the back of the Irish pack.

Keith Earls and Jared Payne are both retained and start at left wing and outside centre, respectively.

Schmidt XV

Cian Healy gets his first Ireland start since he faced Scotland, at Murrayfield, in March.

He is joined by Richardt Strauss and Nathan White in the front row.

Devin Toner and Donnacha Ryan are second row partners while Jordi Murphy and Chris Henry come into the back row to keep Heaslip company.

In the backline, Eoin Reddan and Ian Madigan are the half-back pairing, Earls and Tommy Bowe are on the wings while Simon Zebo gets the nod at fullback.

Henshaw is not being risked, following recent hamstring worries, so Darren Cave starts at inside centre alongside Payne.

The FootballJOE quiz: Were you paying attention? – episode 10