Andy Farrell has made six changes to the starting line-up for Ireland’s second match in the Six Nations against Italy at the Aviva Stadium on Sunday (kick-off 3pm).
Four of the alterations from the opening day win over France are in the pack, where Finlay Bealham, James Ryan, Ryan Baird and Jack Conan are all promoted from the replacements after their positive impacts against France, while in the backs Craig Casey and Stuart McCloskey are brought in from outside last week’s matchday squad to start.
Of last week’s starting XV, Josh van der Flier and Jamison Gibson-Park are named among the replacements, while Bundee Aki, Tadhg Furlong, Tadhg Beirne and Peter O’Mahony are not in the 23.
Jeremy Loughman, Tom O’Toole, Iain Henderson, Harry Byrne and Jordan Larmour are all promoted to the matchday squad as Ireland revert to a more conventional 5-3 split on the bench. Cian Healy, Conor Murray and Ciarán Frawley also drop out of the match-day squad.
Caelan Doris shifts to openside as Conan is named at number eight and, interestingly, is also named as captain after taking over that role when O’Mahony made way in the Stade Vélodrome.
McCloskey will partner Robbie Henshaw as, unsurprisingly, Garry Ringrose is not being risked. Instead, he will be given an additional two weeks to recover from the shoulder injury he sustained in Leinster’s win in Leicester three weeks ago and which ruled him out of last week’s opener.
Ireland supposedly had a fully fit squad to choose form against France, only for it to transpire that Garry Ringrose had been ruled out with a shoulder injury suffered playing for Leinster two weeks previously.
Similarly, without a formal injury update this week, the media had been informed that everyone was training on Wednesday and that Ringrose was progressing nicely. Yet it transpires that injuries had contributed to the absence of Furlong, O’Mahony and Aki.
Subsequent to the team announcement, Andy Farrell addressed the media and confirmed that neither Furlong nor O’Mahony had trained this week due to calf injuries which might not necessarily have ruled them out had it been a World Cup final, while Aki has “a rumbling knee”.
“We have got a couple of days training next week and they’ll both be expected for that as well,” Farrell said of Furlong and O’Mahony, “but this was too early.”
Choosing Doris to captain Ireland for the first time ahead of Ryan, who has more experience of the role for both province and country, and is currently co-captain with Leinster, looked pointed.
“He’s someone that has been on my mind, certainly, through the World Cup,” said Farrell of Doris. “How he has come on as a leader etc and how he has dealt with being an international, top class player over the years, his story as it were, from his first cap to where he is now has been astonishing really, behind the scenes.
“So, therefore we are excited to give him the reins and let’s see what he can do with it.”
“It’s his first time captaining his country and he’s not done that much with Leinster neither, barring one a couple of weeks ago,” said Farrell, in reference to Doris taking over the captaincy when Ryan was a late withdrawal for the loss to Ulster at the RDS on New Year’s Day.
“Captaining the Under-20s, he is someone that is unbelievably professional, very diligent in his own preparation, so therefore because he is so comfortable in his own skin, he is able to think outside the box as far as helping everyone else with the bigger picture stuff.
“Even the detail stuff of his team-mates etc, and we have seen that flourish massively over the last couple of years, but more so throughout the World Cup.
“He is a very calm, calculated type of individual that will have that reassurance on the rest of the group.”
Despite the half dozen changes to the starting line-up, Farrell said this selection was a balance between “giving people another chance obviously, the lads that took the field last week, to build on that, but also keeping competition in the right places.
“Like I always say, selection takes all sorts. All sorts of different permutations go through your mind. When you lose a couple of leaders, do you replace them with a leader or somebody that deserves a chance?
“Iain Henderson coming onto the bench will help Caelan, I’ve no doubt, in making sure the changing room feels the way it should be with Pete and Tadhg not being there. James Ryan’s chomping at the bit to show his worth and start, and big Joe is ready to compete again.
“Then obviously Calvin Nash and Jack get another shot at it. Ryan Baird has been playing outstandingly well, he’s obviously been very good for us off the bench, to start the game is a different challenge for him.
“Craig Casey has been jumping out of his skin and playing well, and deserves a start. So for me, it’s a hell of a pack and a good team at that, so it excites me being able to be in that position.”
Meanwhile, Ange Capuozzo returns to the Italy team, one of four changes from the side which lost to England last weekend.
Capuozzo had been named in the side to face England but withdrew due to illness, and has been named at fullback with Tommaso Allan dropping to the bench.
Head coach Gonzalo Quesada was forced into other changes after the rib injury to flanker Sebastian Negri, with Alessandro Izekor starting after coming off the bench for his first cap in the 27-24 defeat to England.
Lorenzo Cannone is also out with a knee injury, which sees captain Michele Lamaro moving to number eight and Manuel Zuliani into the starting side.
The other change has Stephen Varney back in at scrumhalf in place of Alessandro Garbisi who started last weekend.
Ross Vintcent has been named on the bench, and the South African-born flanker could make his debut in Dublin for the Italians.
IRELAND: Hugo Keenan (Leinster); Calvin Nash (Munster), Robbie Henshaw (Leinster), Stuart McCloskey (Ulster), James Lowe (Leinster); Jack Crowley (Munster), Craig Casey (Munster); Andrew Porter (Leinster), Dan Sheehan (Leinster), Finlay Bealham (Connacht); Joe McCarthy (Leinster), James Ryan (Leinster); Ryan Baird (Leinster), Caelan Doris (Leinster, capt), Jack Conan (Leinster).
Replacements: Rónan Kelleher (Leinster), Jeremy Loughman (Munster), Tom O’Toole (Ulster), Iain Henderson (Ulster), Josh van der Flier (Leinster), Jamison Gibson-Park (Leinster), Harry Byrne (Leinster), Jordan Larmour (Leinster).
ITALY: Ange Capuozzo; Lorenzo Pani, Juan Ignacio Brex, Tommaso Menoncello, Monty Ioane; Paolo Garbisi, Stephen Varney; Danilo Fischetti, Gianmarco Lucchesi, Pietro Ceccarelli; Niccolo Cannone, Federico Ruzza; Alessandro Izekor, Manuel Zuliani, Michele Lamaro.
Replacements: Giacomo Nicotera, Mirco Spagnolo, Giosue Zilocchi, Andrea Zambonin, Ross Vintcent, Martin Page-Relo, Tommaso Allan, Federico Mori.
