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International

Ireland make 12 changes and also name three new caps on bench

(Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

Andy Farrell has revealed an Ireland team to take on Italy that has 12 changes from the starting XV in their Grand Slam-clinching win over England 20 weeks ago and includes three uncapped caps players – Tom Stewart, Ciaran Frawley and Calvin Nash – on their bench.

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That 29-16 success on March 18 consolidated the Irish position at the top of the World Rugby rankings and heading into their Summer Nations Series opener in Dublin ahead of the upcoming Rugby World Cup in France, the head coach has opted to explore his squad depth.

With games against England and Samoa to follow later this month, the match versus the Azzurri is the first of three warm-ups before Farrell will cut his 42-strong squad to the requisite 33 on August 28 for the finals.

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Just three of the winners who started against the English are included – midfielder Robbie Henshaw, second row Ryan Baird, who will start at blindside on this occasion, and No8 Caelan Doris, who has been chosen at openside.

Iain Henderson will skipper the team, partnering Joe McCarthy at second row behind a front row of David Kilcoyne, Rob Herring and Tom O’Toole. Jack Conan at No8 completes the pack.

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In the backs, Keith Earls features in the back three along with Jimmy O’Brien and Jacob Stockdale, Stuart McCloskey partners Henshaw at centre, while the half-backs are Jack Crowley and Craig Casey. Joining the newcomers Stewart, Frawley and Nash on the bench are Cian Healy, Tadhg Furlong, Cian Prendergast, Tadhg Beirne and Caolin Blade.

Ireland (vs Italy, Saturday – 8pm)
15. Jimmy O’Brien (Leinster/Naas) (5)
14. Keith Earls (Munster/Young Munster) (98)
13. Robbie Henshaw (Leinster/Buccaneers) (63)
12. Stuart McCloskey (Ulster/Bangor (12)
11. Jacob Stockdale (Ulster/Lurgan) (35)
10. Jack Crowley (Munster/Cork Constitution) (3)
9. Craig Casey (Munster/Shannon) (10)
1. David Kilcoyne (Munster/UL Bohemian) (51)
2. Rob Herring (Ulster/Ballynahinch) (34)
3. Tom O’Toole (Ulster/Ballynahinch) (9)
4: Iain Henderson (Ulster/Academy) (72) (captain)
5. Joe McCarthy (Leinster/Dublin University) (1)
6. Ryan Baird (Leinster/Dublin University) (11)
7. Caelan Doris (Leinster/St. Mary’s College) (28)
8. Jack Conan (Leinster/Old Belvedere) (38)

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Replacements:
16. Tom Stewart (Ulster/Ballynahinch)*
17. Cian Healy (Leinster/Clontarf) (123)
18. Tadhg Furlong (Leinster/Clontarf) (65)
19. Tadhg Beirne (Munster/Lansdowne) (38)
20. Cian Prendergast (Connacht/UCD) (1)
21. Caolin Blade (Connacht/Galwegians) (1)
22. Ciaran Frawley (Leinster/UCD)*
23. Calvin Nash (Munster/Young Munster)*

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Comments on RugbyPass

J
JW 15 minutes ago
The constant in the All Blacks’ struggles is not the coaches



so why clear house?

Because it’s now become apparent the players are responsible for such poor results.



...

108 Go to comments
J
JW 37 minutes ago
The constant in the All Blacks’ struggles is not the coaches

They didn’t have any with Razor, he would have been paid out millions. That’s the whole point, they can’t do that with multiple players, so you try it with the coach instead.

108 Go to comments
J
JW 39 minutes ago
The constant in the All Blacks’ struggles is not the coaches

Exactly opposite, he is too heavy to fulfil the role PMCD wants of him.

108 Go to comments
J
JW 40 minutes ago
The constant in the All Blacks’ struggles is not the coaches



This is not unique to NZ

Terrible take that ignores the key revenue streams and differences. NZ, pacfic, and Aus are very different to the rest of the world.



...

108 Go to comments
J
JW 2 hours ago
The constant in the All Blacks’ struggles is not the coaches

It was clear when Razor started his tenure his intention was to not use Beauden, how quickly things changed.

108 Go to comments
J
JW 2 hours ago
The constant in the All Blacks’ struggles is not the coaches

Why have you given up on Jordie at the back?

108 Go to comments
G
GodOfFriedChicken 2 hours ago
The constant in the All Blacks’ struggles is not the coaches

Looking back at it, it was the second test and what I was referring to was the Kyle Sinckler jump into Charlie Faumuina that gave them the game winning penalty. As Read said, by that logic, players should just jump into every pass to bait the penalty.

That team still dominated its opposition in that span. As I said in another comment here, they made a tactical gamble in that semi and choked.



...

108 Go to comments
E
Easy_Duzz-it 2 hours ago
The constant in the All Blacks’ struggles is not the coaches

Both player selection and style of play … we've gone backwards . Razor was just keeping us a float .

We are lucky to be 2nd in the world



...

108 Go to comments
c
cw 3 hours ago
The constant in the All Blacks’ struggles is not the coaches

Agree with the head drop point. A just to clarify, the stats show a steady improvement against tier 1 (other top 5 teams) teams over the last 5 years:

2021 25%



...

108 Go to comments
J
JW 3 hours ago
The constant in the All Blacks’ struggles is not the coaches



while the remainder of the spots are selected on form.

Not even. Leicester was straight in on his contract alone, and he’d only be mid tier, perhaps in the top 20 contracts.



...

108 Go to comments
c
cw 3 hours ago
The constant in the All Blacks’ struggles is not the coaches

Hey PMcD we normally agree - and you have identified the flaws but just for a small bit of balance the ABs this year beat France B x 3 (but with a pack that bore little or no ressemblance to the first choice pack at the end of 2024 - 5 members out with injury from memory for the first test and a completely differently configured pack in the third test) Argentina, South Africa, Australia (x 2), Ireland and Scotland. They did this with some the most potent set piece striking of all the teams - the way they opened up opposition in their 22 was quite remarkable. Did they overdo this - definitely - but they were not irredeemable especially if they sorted the third quarter malaise. Part of that has to be owned by the players.

108 Go to comments
J
JW 3 hours ago
The constant in the All Blacks’ struggles is not the coaches

The NH leagues have just done a better job at understanding whats happening I think. There isn’t a whole lot that needs to go into an AB attack though, if theyre allowed to just let loose they can click. Then the cat and mouse can begin again.

PB is trying to call out the players, thinking Razor was on the right track. Your post was agreeing with him. Maybe you mean to reply to GodChicken?



...

108 Go to comments
c
cw 3 hours ago
The constant in the All Blacks’ struggles is not the coaches

Yeah the under 20s have not looked great for a while, though they made the final last year (or was that a different youth team?). But I wonder whether that reflects priorities in NZ rugby rather than a generational decline. Some of our best players are the younger guys.

108 Go to comments
J
JW 4 hours ago
The constant in the All Blacks’ struggles is not the coaches

I think that was the second test. What you are referring to was that Romain we have an deal, international grab at the ball while offside reverse call. He absolutely deliberately caught the ball. Obvious by mistake, and to his credit he knew it fast enough to confuse the officials interpretation of the law. They absolutely got that wrong.

The point that you seem to be missing due to your Crusader bias is that that team struggled in new modern football with Beauden at the helm. They did not look more cohesive at all, they looked, as they did against England in 2019, absolutely bereft of idea’s against todays modern defences.



...

108 Go to comments
G
GodOfFriedChicken 4 hours ago
The constant in the All Blacks’ struggles is not the coaches

He tried to get the team winning without trying to understand what he was working with and that’s why he was rejected. Hansen got his players to win, even as I mention below, during a rebuilding period where they struggled to find replacements for gold standard players like McCaw, Kaino, Smith, Nonu and still managed to win with solid but not world breaking players like Cane (when not injured), Squire, Crotty and late career SBW.

I’ll still argue that the choke in the semifinal vs England was more due to a tactical miscalculation where they tried to go tall in the lineout with Scooter at 6, expecting to play more set pieces, while England went with 2 opensides and had a lot more speed to the breakdown, keeping possession away and leading to the team choking it away for the second half. Was the team as strong as 2015? Definitely not. But I disagree with that loss being evidence of Hansen losing his players. He gambled and not all gambles work out - it’s not like the players gave up because they didn’t like the game plan.



...

108 Go to comments
J
JC 4 hours ago
'Ireland are consumed by chaos, but Andy Farrell's choice of 10 is becoming clear'

100% Eric. Not a shred of, honestly, decency or integrity. Lies and constantly avoiding answering the actual questions. Just deflection and being morally outraged. However, the softest bunch of trolls you’ll likely encounter on a forum, It’s like winding up an angry thin skinned jack russell….

22 Go to comments
J
JW 4 hours ago
The constant in the All Blacks’ struggles is not the coaches

And the halves, the back three. He changed philosophy of his f/r.

Whitelock, Retallick, and Scooter, as lock, and Smith at halfback were the only well oiled parts of that team.



...

108 Go to comments
J
JW 4 hours ago
The constant in the All Blacks’ struggles is not the coaches

The topic is the ‘quality’ of the players. Nothing to do with whether they ‘led’ or not.

The point is that Razor was trying to get this team winning, and well, I suppose you can construe that the players didn’t like that, now that Razor has been rejected (by whowever, who is not the point of this article) it undeniably rests on the players.



...

108 Go to comments
J
JC 4 hours ago
The Springboks' biggest critic might be right on this one

It’s as simple as this the top European clubs don’t want the marquee or regular bok internationals because they’re basically not getting their money’s worth and getting fleeced. They’ve learned their lessons at a cost. You just have to look at the amount of top SA internationals playing in France, England and Ireland. Gone are the days of Matfield, botha, Kolbe etc….smashing it up for Toulon, Toulouse etc….Bar Synman at Leinster and Thomas du toit at bath there isn’t any more. Klyen and Dweba are on the fringes. You have alot of good pro’s or possible unfounded rough diamonds these are better value. France was always the go too for the money but the kolisi debacle has definitely made owners and investors cuter and wiser. You can understand from a SA point of view not wanting top internationals getting flogged in the top 14 and i’m sure that’s why management have been steering the players towards a sabbatical in Japan playing tag rugby. In fairness it’ll prolong their careers and the Japanese clubs will get money through these players on sponsorship deals, selling products and endorsements. However from a sporting perspective on the pitch they’re getting very little out of alot of them. It seems at the moment this is the best for both sides as the SA international team are flourishing, keeping players fresh and the focus away from club rugby.. While the European teams know where they stand and can invest their money more wisely on commited, consistent and reliable players.

49 Go to comments
c
cw 4 hours ago
The constant in the All Blacks’ struggles is not the coaches

Agree PMcD. Its about balance across the whole team. We have some of the tallest props / lifters in world rugby (Williams 195, Tosi 196, Lomax 193, de Groot 190). This I think offsets the lack of height for most oppositon. Note also that Englands main crop of loosies are not much taller if at all than these three Curry 185, Pollock 188, Underhill 186, Earl 183 vs Savea 188, Sititi 187, Lakai 186. And like you this combination should have started in London because of England’s newfound intensity. But the ABs must look to match up more closely when playing the Boks and France. This is where your 6-2 is critical. I don’t think Jacobson is the answer - he is too small at 192cm/ 108 kgs to make the necessary power impact. We need more mass - this is where Parker (197cm / 117kgs), Papali’i (193cm/113kgs) and Vaa’i (198 cm / 118 kgs) et al come in. They key is then how you configure the combinations etc.

108 Go to comments
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