Debating the four big Ireland team selection calls for England ‘must-win’

“I wouldn’t trust Eddie Jones with my puppy!”

Andy Farrell will name his Ireland team to face England on Thursday afternoon, and the injury to Andrew Porter and return to fitness of Iain Henderson mean there will be changes.

Farrell made six changes from the team that lost to France for the one that filleted 13-man Italy, two weeks later. England may be trying out relative fresh faces, in Test terms, but they will provide a much stiffer test than the Italians.

Jones may be doing his best to downplay England as plucky underdogs, but former Ireland prop Lindsay Peat is not buying it. Going to Twickenham to get a Test win is something Ireland have only achieved once in the past 11 years.

On the latest House of Rugby URC [LISTEN from 36:00 and 1:01:30 below], Peat and fellow hosts, Greg O’Shea and Jason Hennessy, were joined by Wasps and Ireland hooker Cliodhna Moloney to run through some of Farrell’s biggest selection calls.

House of Rugby picks Ireland team to face England

Having seen his team get pummelled by a physical French pack in the first half of their 30-24 loss, in Paris, Andy Farrell may be tempted to bring Iain Henderson straight into his starting XV.

“Henderson is brilliant,” said Hennessy, “but you can’t drop James Ryan or Tadhg Beirne.”

“Iain might start on the bench, for experience,” Peat reasoned. “You do need that experience, heading to Twickenham. It can be daunting, but he won’t find it so… we can’t disrupt that Ryan-Beirne partnership, especially at the breakdown, as that’s where I feel England are going to target us, and try slow us down.”

“Isn’t that mad?” noted O’Shea, “Henderson is a Lion and he captained Ireland [in the 2021 Six Nations]. And we’re debating whether he should be on the bench.”

The other selection aspects that got the panel animated was over who should start left wing, and be on the bench as scrumhalf cover for Jamison Gibson-Park.

Mack Hansen or James Lowe… or both?

Lindsay Peat stated her case that Munster scrumhalf Craig Casey should be on the Ireland bench, ahead of provincial teammate Conor Murray, for the visit to Twickenham.

“I think he has to be. We have to move this big England pack, and he’s ideal for that,” said Peat of Casey. O’Shea is still pining for Murray to make the match-day 23.

“He’s definitely good enough, and he’d do the job, but I just don’t… I mean, you’re going to drop Murray? You’ve got to have Conor Murray in your squad. He’ll come on, close out the game.”

In the end, O’Shea was the only one of the four that would go Murray on the replacements bench. “What did Conor Murray do to any of ye?!” O’Shea remarked.

With Andrew Porter out – a hammer blow, according to Moloney – the consensus was starting Cian Healy at loosehead in an all-Leinster front row, with Dave Kilcoyne in reserve. Most agreed that Andrew Conway – seen as the safer bet – would come back at No.14, leaving James Lowe and Mack Hansen to tussle for a left wing spot.

“I’d go Lowe,” argued Peat, “because we’re going to go into a more physical game. We’ll need a kicker – Lowe has that left boot, tick! He is more physical [than Hansen] as we’ve seen in that All Blacks performance, when he really stepped up. I think he can bring speed, pace and he has locked out some of that defensive inexperience from his early [Test] days.”

HOR’S IRELAND TEAM

15. Hugo Keenan
14. Andrew Conway
13. Robbie Henshaw
12. Bundee Aki
11. James Lowe
10. Johnny Sexton (captain)
9. Jamison Gibson-Park

1. Cian Healy
2. Dan Sheehan
3. Tadhg Furlong
4. Tadhg Beirne
5. James Ryan
6. Caelan Doris
7. Josh van der Flier
8. Jack Conan

REPLACEMENTS: Rob Herring, Dave Kilcoyne, Finlay Bealham, Iain Henderson, Peter O’Mahony, Craig Casey, Joey Carbery, Mack Hansen.

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