Andy Farrell names Ireland team showing six changes for Scotland

Andy Farrell has made six changes to his Ireland team to face Scotland this Sunday 15 days after their hard-fought win over Italy in Rome. The Irish eventually won that round three match 34-20 to keep alive their Grand Slam ambitions and they have now hugely altered their selection to visit the Scots at Murrayfield in Guinness Six Nations round four.

A starter at outside centre at the Stadio Olimpico, Bundee Aki now switches to inside centre to accommodate the return of the fit-again Garry Ringrose at No13. Stuart McCloskey misses out entirely as the fit-again Robbie Henshaw comes onto the bench.

Both starting half-backs are also changed with Johnny Sexton partnering Conor Murray in place of Ross Byrne and Craig Casey. Byrne is named on the bench but Casey misses out as Jamison Gibson-Park is back as a sub after his recent injury woe.

Up front, round three sub Dan Sheehan and fit-again Tadhg Furlong are back for the benched Ronan Kelleher and the injured Finlay Bealham, while Peter O’Mahony is restored to the back row with Jack Conan slipping to the replacements. O’Mahony will start at blindside with Caelan Doris reverting to No8.

Another inclusion on the bench is Cian Healy, named at the expense of Dave Kilcoyne. Jack Crowley and Jimmy O’Brien are other subs from the Italian match to also miss out on the match day squad on this occasion.

Ireland team (vs Scotland, Sunday – 3:0pm)
15. Hugo Keenan (Leinster/UCD) 28 caps
14. Mack Hansen (Connacht/Corinthians) 12 caps
13. Garry Ringrose (Leinster/UCD) 49 caps
12. Bundee Aki (Connacht/Galwegians) 44 caps
11. James Lowe (Leinster) 18 caps
10. Johnny Sexton (Leinster/St Mary’s College) 111 caps (c)
9. Conor Murray (Munster/Garryowen) 103 caps
1. Andrew Porter (Leinster/UCD) 51 caps
2. Dan Sheehan (Leinster/Lansdowne) 15 caps
3. Tadhg Furlong (Leinster/Clontarf) 63 caps
4. Iain Henderson (Ulster/Academy) 71 caps
5. James Ryan (Leinster/UCD) 51 caps
6. Peter O’Mahony (Munster/Cork Constitution) 92 caps
7. Josh van der Flier (Leinster/UCD) 48 caps
8. Caelan Doris (Leinster/St Mary’s College) 26 caps

Replacements:
16. Ronan Kelleher (Leinster/Lansdowne) 20 caps
17. Cian Healy (Leinster/Clontarf) 121 caps
18. Tom O’Toole (Ulster/Ballynahinch) 7 caps
19. Ryan Baird (Leinster/Dublin University) 9 caps
20. Jack Conan (Leinster/Old Belvedere) 36 caps
21. Jamison Gibson-Park (Leinster) 23 caps
22. Ross Byrne (Leinster/UCD) 17 caps
23. Robbie Henshaw (Leinster/Buccaneers) 61 caps