The Ireland team that should start against Italy

Eight wins on the spin for Ireland but they’ll need to string together a few more if they are to take this Six Nations championship home.

Ireland got their campaign off to a winning start, in Paris, but it was one hellaciously close call.

Johnny Sexton dropped into the pocket on 82:33 and, seven second later, slotted over the winning drop goal to win the match for Ireland. Joe Schmidt’s men got out of France with a 15-13 victory and Conor Murray told us:

“It’s going to be a completely different Monday now.

“Doubts do creep into your head and you’re trying to stay positive throughout all that. It was so important for us to get a win here, and it means we can refocus on Italy on Monday now.

“If we were to lose it would change the complexion of our entire Six Nations, everyone knows that.”

Three teams are still in Grand Slam contention but, without getting carried away with ourselves, Ireland are nicely positioned for a run on the championship. They have three home games in a row coming up, starting

Ireland are likely to have just two serious training sessions this week and even they may be light enough after the exertions of Saturday night in Paris. Schmidt is likely to make a few changes to his starting XV but there may not be a raft.

One change that we will definitely see will be at openside. Josh van der Flier has suffered suspected medial ligament [knee] damage and is out of contention for this weekend’s visit of Italy. Fortunately for Schmidt, and Ireland, Dan Leavy is a ready-made and robust replacement.

The Leinster back-row was a physical presence at Stade de France and excelled in the latter stages of Ireland’s narrow victory. The other back row options are Jordi Murphy and Jack Conan. We would go Leavy with Conan backing up the back row unit.

Elsewhere, we would bring in Jordan Larmour [Andrew Conway is rehabbing]. Rob Kearney will tell you himself that he thrives on a run of games but he was below par against Les Bleus and the electric Larmour deserves a look against the Italians. That’s not to say that we would not strongly consider Kearney for the final three games of the championship.

We’re giving the No.10 jersey to Joey Carbery but it is merely on loan from Sexton. There is a strong argument to keep Sexton in the starting line-up but we need to start seeing if Carbery can produce the outhalf goods at Test level. Keep Conor Murray beside Carbery and see how he goes.

Schmidt may be tempted to get Devin Toner in from the start, on Saturday, but we would retain James Ryan and let him build his understanding with Iain Henderson, another top performer in Paris.

The only other change we are making is a tweak in the front row that should not cause much disruption. Jack McGrath starts with Cian Healy in reserve.

IRELAND

Jordan Larmour

Keith Earls
Robbie Henshaw
Bundee Aki
Jacob Stockdale

Joey Carbery
Conor Murray

Jack McGrath
Rory Best (captain)
Tadhg Furlong

Iain Henderson
James Ryan

Peter O’Mahony
Dan Leavy
CJ Stander

Replacements: Sean Cronin, Cian Healy, John Ryan, Devin Toner, Jack Conan, Luke McGrath, Johnny Sexton, Fergus McFadden.

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