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InternationalEnglandIrelandRoss Byrne

Ireland make 12 changes to their team to face England


Ireland's squad line up for their anthem (Photo by Paolo Bruno/Getty Images)
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Comment

Ireland have made several changes to the side that defeated Italy on August 10 as the squad continues its build-up to the World Cup in Japan.

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As predicted by RugbyPass, 12 changes have been made from the team that ran out in Dublin. Jordan Larmour, Garry Ringrose and Jean Kleyn are the three repeat picks to face England on Saturday at Twickenham while Ross Byrne has been included for his first start at out-half.    

Rory Best will captain the side and is joined in the front row by Cian Healy and Tadhg Furlong. Iain Henderson and Kleyn lock down the second row with Peter O’Mahony, Josh van der Flier and CJ Stander named in the back row.

Rob Kearney lines out at full-back with Larmour and Jacob Stockdale on the wings. Bundee Aki and Ringrose form the midfield partnership, with Byrne and Conor Murray named at half-back.

The replacements named form London are Sean Cronin, Jack McGrath, Andrew Porter, Devin Toner, Tadhg Beirne, Luke McGrath, Jack Carty and Andrew Conway.

IRELAND (v England, Saturday) 

15. Rob Kearney (UCD/Leinster) 90 caps

14. Jordan Larmour (St Mary’s College/Leinster) 14 caps

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13. Garry Ringrose (UCD/Leinster) 21 caps

12. Bundee Aki (Galwegians/Connacht) 17 caps

11. Jacob Stockdale (Lurgan/Ulster) 19 caps

10. Ross Byrne (UCD/Leinster) 2 caps

9. Conor Murray (Garryowen/Munster) 72 caps

1. Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster) 89 caps

2. Rory Best (Banbridge/Ulster) 117 caps

3. Tadhg Furlong (Clontarf/Leinster) 33 caps

4. Iain Henderson (Queens University/Ulster) 45 caps

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5. Jean Kleyn (Munster) 1 cap

6. Peter O’Mahony (Cork Constitution/Munster) 57 caps

7. Josh van der Flier (UCD/Leinster) 17 caps

8. CJ Stander (Shannon/Munster) 31 caps

REPLACEMENTS

16. Sean Cronin (St Mary’s College/Leinster) 68 caps

17. Jack McGrath (St Marys College/Leinster) 55 caps

18. Andrew Porter (UCD/Leinster) 15 caps

19. Devin Toner (Lansdowne/Leinster) 65 caps

20. Tadhg Beirne (Lansdowne/Munster) 6 caps

21. Luke McGrath (UCD/Leinster) 11 caps

22. Jack Carty (Buccaneers/Connacht) 4 caps

23. Andrew Conway (Garryowen/Munster) 13 caps

WATCH: Jonny May and George Ford set the scene ahead of England’s World Cup warm-up match against Ireland

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Comments on RugbyPass

T
Tom 11 minutes ago
Losing to Henry Pollock would be unbearable

Absolutely. England are unlikely to out-Bok the Boks. I say only unlikely because they did nearly do it in the 2023 world cup which was a hell of a performance by the forwards (until Dan Cole got benched).

If England go into the game and try to win an armwrestle I'm gonna be p*ssed off. The Boks are a fantastic side but they have shown occasional frailty when sides take them out of their comfort zone. If England play into their hands, they lose.



...

12 Go to comments
R
RT 13 minutes ago
Losing to Henry Pollock would be unbearable

As an Englishman i fear the worst for Saturday , very tough afternoon in store .

12 Go to comments
L
Lou Cifer 20 minutes ago
Losing to Henry Pollock would be unbearable

One feels there is too much media pressure to, at a bare minimum, include him in the matchday 23. A hype-monster has been created & some days it’ll work in England’s favour and some days it won’t. Only time will tell which outweighs the other….

12 Go to comments
I
Itsallacademic 21 minutes ago
Nations Championship: 'The data shows the north has finally caught up with the south'

This is an interesting article and very good analysis, but how on earth do you look at North v North games & stats and conclude anything about North v South?

Surely you need to at least provide comparable stats for South v South or even better North v South?



...

18 Go to comments
W
Willardi 32 minutes ago
Losing to Henry Pollock would be unbearable

What most journo’s seem to be ignoring is the way his team mates get irritated by his flashiness. England typically embrace the hard rugby DNA. This bloke sits outside that ID. Borthwick would be sensible to not pick him at all. Best for the kid and best for England to go back to their proper identity. I suspect a lot of the old guard also cringe watching him swan around.

12 Go to comments
K
KB 1 hour ago
Losing to Henry Pollock would be unbearable

None of the English 2018 tour or last years Wallabies win says anything really. The English was in full swing and Rassie started his 2nd test after his first agains Wales in the US and still the English couldnt finish it. Now the Boks have imprived so much the 2018 tour is irrelevant. The Aussies only managed to beat us a Tonyball needed still to be embedded and look what happened since.

The English, Pollock or not are in for a very tough afternoon. It is a stacked Bok team…



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L
Lou Cifer 1 hour ago
Nations Championship: 'The data shows the north has finally caught up with the south'

It was a statement intended to utterly dominate and humiliate them

18 Go to comments
L
Lou Cifer 1 hour ago
Nations Championship: 'The data shows the north has finally caught up with the south'



it has the feel of Hitman Hearns v Marvelous Marvin Hagler about it - with only one team standing at the end if it

Salivating at the mere thought of it all…..Saturday can’t come soon enough!



...

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L
Lou Cifer 1 hour ago
Nations Championship: 'The data shows the north has finally caught up with the south'

There is definitely a weird air of confidence emanating from The Land of the Long White Cloud especially after their Breakdancing Messiah crashed & burned so spectacularly not too long ago. Guess time will tell…..

18 Go to comments
T
TokoRFC 1 hour ago
Wallabies hopeful James Ramm joins New Zealand NPC side before Force move

Wow, isn’t this guy pretty damn good, I’d like to see a few more super rugby level Aussies in the NPC rasing the quality of the comp

1 Go to comments
L
Lou Cifer 1 hour ago
Losing to Henry Pollock would be unbearable



It breeds a subtle, subconscious complacency

It’s a double-edged sword which could see England up 21-0 after 20mins or lose by 20+



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12 Go to comments
N
Nickers 1 hour ago
There's only one selection that truly matters for the All Blacks this July

Those first two games against England??? They were diabolical. They set the scene for the circus that followed.

England played so badly, and we matched them every step of the way. But for a once every 5 years performance from Beaudy in the second test we would have lost by 10.



...

115 Go to comments
P
Phantom 1 hour ago
Nations Championship: 'The data shows the north has finally caught up with the south'

Fact: the gap between the North and the South has narrowed considerably - that I get. However, determining that only selecting only Home grown players or playing in the home country is is the optimal strategy is a bit of a toss up and highly reliant on the economies of the home union. I do understand that England and to a lesser degree Ireland selects home based only. The top 14 is a massive threat to their domestic product. France would probably not be affected (the money is at home). Fiji, Argentina, Samoa, Italy and you could even argue Scotland have only benefitted from this. Their players either go overseas to learn at higher levels (Fiji, Samoa, Argentina) or players coming into their leagues to strengthen the home product and their National teams (Scotland, Italy, Japan).

South Africa used to limit its selection to the home based players, but the reality of a weak currency vs what players could earn oversees meant that you lost access to your best players at some stage of their careers, with very few exceptions. Kolbe left SA as he was considered too small for International Rugby (yes coaches/selectors view), but ironically in France he forced selectors to notice his endeavors and select him. He is only reaching 50 caps now despite being north of 30 - granted rotation and the odd injury also played a role, but for the most part it is having debuted or becoming a regular so late.



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M
Mzilikazi 1 hour ago
Nations Championship: 'The data shows the north has finally caught up with the south'

Great article, Nick. I do wonder if a fatigue factor might skew results in this July leg though. And injuries will certainly curtail Ireland, I fear. The opposite ofc will be a factor in the autumn leg, the NH players nicely into their season, with hopefully fewer injuries.

18 Go to comments
M
Mzilikazi 1 hour ago
Nations Championship: 'The data shows the north has finally caught up with the south'

Be tough for France if they don’t field the Toulouse and Montpellier players. I do think there is maybe a bit of overconfidence in the NZ press over the Rennie factor. We will see.

Ireland are very down on full strength. Badly at LHP. Depends what sort of team Schmidt picks too. He has already, imo, made a bad error leaving out LSL. ut I can see the WB’s winning this one. France will be tougher I feel, with the Toulouse and MP players coming in….like Meafou !!



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18 Go to comments
J
JM 1 hour ago
'Your brain picks up there's less oxygen... it hits you from the start' - but does altitude still really matter?

When RSA came back into the rugby fold it seemed everyone in NZ was stressed about playing them at altitude. Not just the effects on the body but the effects on the ball and how it changed how the game was played.

I reckon for the first couple of years there was a chunky dose self psyching involved on our part, when in a normal game you'd start to feel fatigued at 60 it was just standard but when you started to feel fatigued at altitude after 60 you convinced yourself that it was the sign of you hitting the wall and that played games with you.



...

17 Go to comments
S
SS 1 hour ago
Losing to Henry Pollock would be unbearable

The Boks are all salivating…😜

12 Go to comments
j
johnz 1 hour ago
There's only one selection that truly matters for the All Blacks this July

People make culture, you can't build a culture by reading a manual left behind by all the staff who were just sacked.

I don't buy the dyslexia thing. I was all for Razor based on listening and observing him before he got the gig. He was inspiring, thought outside the box, spoke the language of success, was open to new ideas and trying things. Unfortunately the guy that turned up was not the same guy. Even the players who knew him said the same thing.



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115 Go to comments
M
MV 1 hour ago
Bought not built: Rassie's importing has sacrificed the identity of Bok rugby

Ahh Ben Smith the eternal bok hater. And this is called sports journalism! When you have depleted your entire arsenal and the one thing left at the bottom you have been avoiding until now is this, then you truly have nothing else left. Really I wasted 5 mins of life I'll never get back!

76 Go to comments
P
PM 2 hours ago
Where's the power? And what to do with Sua'ali'i? The key questions facing the Wallabies

My only quibble would be with ‘crushing’. I’d go with final nail in the coffin. They weren’t really up enough to be crushed.

30 Go to comments
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