Jordan Larmour set for debut as Ireland make four changes for Italy

Ireland have made four changes to the starting XV that saw off France last weekend.

All of the changes are – as predicted on Wednesday – in the Ireland pack, with Jack McGrath, Devin Toner, Dan Leavy and Jack Conan coming in. The backline remains unchanged for this weekend’s visit of Italy but Jordan Larmour is poised to win his first cap.

Some of the most interesting changes are on the bench, with Kieran Marmion, Andrew Porter, Quinn Roux and uncapped Leinster back Larmour all drafted in.

Schmidt has opted to keep his backline combinations the same – Conor Murray and Johnny Sexton the halfbacks, Bundee Aki and Robbie Henshaw are given their third midfield spin out while the back three of Jacob Stockdale, Keith Earls and Rob Kearney are untouched.

In the front row, McGrath is joined by captain Rory Best and Tadhg Furlong while Toner partners fellow lock Iain Henderson. Oddly, given his brilliant outing in Paris, James Ryan drops out of the matchday squad completely.

The back row sees the most change, with Peter O’Mahony the only man who started in France last week retained for this Saturday.

Leavy comes in at openside for the injured Josh van der Flier while Conan gets the start ahead of CJ Stander, who is named on the bench.

IRELAND

Rob Kearney

Keith Earls
Robbie Henshaw
Bundee Aki
Jacob Stockdale

Johnny Sexton
Conor Murray

Jack McGrath
Rory Best (captain)
Tadhg Furlong

Iain Henderson
Devin Toner

Peter O’Mahony
Dan Leavy
Jack Conan

Replacements: Sean Cronin, Cian Healy, Andrew Porter, Quinn Roux, CJ Stander, Kieran Marmion, Joey Carbery, Jordan Larmour.

Ireland versus Italy kicks off at 2:15pm, in the Aviva Stadium, on Saturday

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