All the signs are pointing to three changes to Ireland’s starting XV.
Ireland have a final training session at Carton House in the morning and, barring any exceptional circumstances, three senior players will return to the starting line-up.
Rory Best will resume captaincy duties from Jamie Heaslip – that much is a given – while Rob Kearney is set to reclaim his 15 jersey and Johnny Sexton is to come in at out-half.
While Sexton and Kearney have both trained fully, the fullback is said to have shed all doubts with regards to his fitness. He will play through the pain barrier after injury a bicep in the 63-10 win over Italy.
Sexton has not played for Ireland since limping out of a Champions Cup encounter with Castres last month. Having overcome hamstring issues, late last year, Sexton’s bruised calf saw him miss the opening two Six Nations fixtures.
The third change will see Jack McGrath start as loose-head, with Cian Healy dropping back down to the bench.
While there are often leaks and player sightings around the Irish training facilities, this week has been remarkable in the lack of snippets on Sexton. If the Irish defence are as drum-tight this Saturday, the French won’t stand a chance.
In terms of the match-day squad, Iain Henderson and Peter O’Mahony should respectively replace Ultan Dillane and Josh van der Flier. There are strong inklings that Andrew Trimble will be on the bench, rather than Roman hat-trick hero Craig Gilroy.
IRELAND EXPECTED TEAM
15. R Kearney
14. Earls
13. Ringrose
12. Henshaw
11. Zebo
10. Sexton
9 Murray
1. McGrath
2. Best (c)
3. Furlong
4. Toner
5. Ryan
6. Stander
7. O’Brien
8. Heaslip
Replacements: N Scannell, Healy, J Ryan, Henderson, O’Mahony, Marmion, Jackson. Trimble
The official team announcement will take place at 1:45pm [approx.] on Thursday.
