Injuries force changes to Ireland squad for quarter final clash with New Zealand

That is still a very, very strong Ireland side.

Andy Farrell has made a couple of changes to his Ireland match-day squad ahead of their World Cup quarter final against New Zealand.

James Ryan (wrist) misses out on the last eight clash but Mack Hansen (calf) is named, despite sitting out Tuesday at Stade Omnisports des Fauvettes. In brighter news, Joe McCarthy gets a bit seal of approval while Jimmy O’Brien is set for his tournament debut.

IRELAND TEAM

15. Hugo Keenan
14. Mack Hansen
13. Garry Ringrose
12. Bundee Aki
11. James Lowe
10. Johnny Sexton (captain)
9. Jamison Gibson-Park

1. Andrew Porter
2. Dan Sheehan
3. Tadhg Furlong
4. Tadhg Beirne
5. Iain Henderson
6. Peter O’Mahony
7. Josh van der Flier
8. Caelan Doris

Replacements:
Ronan Kelleher, David Kilcoyne, Finlay Bealham, Joe McCarthy, Jack Conan, Conor Murray, Jack Crowley, Jimmy O’Brien.

Having set an Irish record for a World Cup winning margin, against Romania, and defeated Tonga 59-16, Farrell’s men pipped South Africa 13-8 in a tense classic. They then bounced the Scots 36-14 to top Pool B.

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Andy Farrell on challenge awaiting his Ireland team

Head coach Andy Farrell spoke about the quarter final challenge awaiting his Ireland team, after the emphatic win over Scotland.

“I think New Zealand are a fantastic side and for little old Ireland to be talked about in the same bracket shows how far we have come as a playing nation,” he said. “But the respect we have for New Zealand is through the roof.

“The form they have right now is top drawer and, as Johnny said before, I’m sure they will be relishing this fixture to try and put a few things right. It’s as tough as it gets, two weeks ago it was a tough game [against South Africa] and this one was knock-out rugby.

“It gets a whole lot tougher next week against the All Blacks and hopefully they will have to be at their best to beat us as well.”

“I don’t think and neither do the team think we have played our best rugby yet,” Andy Farrell added.

“We know where we want to go and what we want to achieve. Will we ever go there? I don’t know. But it’s days like next week that are coming where we need to find out a bit more about ourselves and these lads are more than willing to do that.”

HOUSE OF RUGBY WITH SHANE BYRNE & LINDSAY PEAT

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