Changes all over the shop.
Joe Schmidt has brought in eight new faces and made nine positional switches from the Ireland side that were walloped 43-20 by Argentina at the World Cup.
There have been a raft of injuries leading into this Six Nations and, this week, Luke Fitzgerald, Rob Kearney and Sean O’Brien were added to that list. Fitzgerald is long-term [knee] but O’Brien and Kearney will hopefully be in the mix to face France.
CJ Stander gets his debut at blindside while Tommy O’Donnell will keep him company in the back row, along with Jamie Heaslip.
Simon Zebo is a surprise face at fullback while Ian Madigan is covering a host of positions off the bench.
After this afternoon’s team announcement at Carton House, Schmidt gave the reasons for his team selections.
He said, “CJ has been fitting in really well. He is certainly a committed character… we felt it would be a good mix for us in the absence of Sean O’Brien.
“If the same thing happened [with Sean O’Brien] as happened against Italy last year, where he pulled out late and was replaced by Tommy, it was unsettling.”
Schmidt on debutant CJ Stander: "There is nothing like the senior Test match arena to see how a player equips themselves."
— Pat McCarry (@patmccarry) February 5, 2016
About Zebo, Schmidt says, “We expect that they will kick on him a lot. He’s very good in the air and, like Rob, he’s got that good left boot on him.”
Robbie Henshaw and Jared Payne are reunited in midfield, despite Ulster’s Stuart McCloskey being tipped to come in at inside centre. Keith Earls, who played 13 against Argentina, now starts on the left wing.
Schmidt commented, “We looked hard at the Stuart McCloskey-Luke Marshall combination as a second [option]… but the two guys did well against Wales last year. Jared made a lot of metres and Robbie was one of our go-to players.”
