Ireland have been forced into a late change in the matchday 23 for tonight’s Test match against Georgia at the Mikheil Meskhi stadium (6pm, Irish time) after Connacht flanker Cian Prendergast succumbed to a gastro bug on the morning of the match. He is replaced on the bench by Leinster’s Max Deegan.
Earlier this year Prendergast pulled out of an Ireland Six Nations game against Wales because of illness and on that occasion was replaced by Ryan Baird. Deegan (28) will win his third cap if called on from the bench.
Georgia head coach Richard Cockerill has his team primed and looking forward to a brilliant occasion. “It’s great to get one of the biggest rugby countries in the world to come here. They’re the third best team in the world, they have been number one for a long time, just to show what a great place this is and how we’re not going away.
“To host Ireland is great for us as a nation to say, ‘look, we’re actually credible here’. Hopefully we will put in a decent performance. We want to walk away feeling good about how we played and the Irish boys going, ‘Jeez, these Georgia boys are tough to beat’.
RM Block
“We’re 18 months into this project, we have a way how we want to play. Players are getting more familiar with that. We’ve got a pretty cohesive squad. We want to win, that goes without saying, but what we need is a performance that develops this team.”
IRELAND: Jimmy O’Brien (Leinster); Tommy O’Brien (Leinster); Jamie Osborne (Leinster), Stuart McCloskey (Ulster), Jacob Stockdale (Ulster); Sam Prendergast (Leinster), Craig Casey (Munster, capt); Jack Boyle (Leinster), Gus McCarthy (Leinster), Thomas Clarkson (Leinster); Cormac Izuchukwu (Ulster), Darragh Murray (Connacht); Ryan Baird (Leinster), Nick Timoney (Ulster), Gavin Coombes (Munster).
Replacements: Tom Stewart (Ulster), Michael Milne (Munster), Jack Aungier (Connacht), Tom Ahern (Munster), Max Deegan (Leinster), Ben Murphy (Connacht), Jack Crowley (Munster), Calvin Nash (Munster).
