Andy Farrell hails 'phenomenal' story in defence of team selection

Ireland head coach Andy Farrell insisted his rejigged side for Saturday’s Nations Championship clash with Fiji is “not an experimental team” as he backed his players to deliver.

Farrell has made seven personnel changes and two positional switches to the starting XV which beat Argentina 42-12 last week.

Nick Timoney shifts from openside flanker to number eight after Sean Jansen was ruled out by injury, while Mack Hansen moves from left wing to full-back.

With captain Dan Sheehan unavailable due to concussion protocols, lock Tadhg Beirne skippers the side and Ronan Kelleher comes in at hooker.

James Ryan and Josh van der Flier are also recalled to the forward pack, while Jamison Gibson-Park, Tommy O’Brien, Bundee Aki and Jamie Osborne come into the backline.

“Continuity is good, but I don’t think there’s that many changes,” Farrell told a press conference, according to the Irish Examiner.

“There’s a few that we would have had to have made (because of injury), but I think in this game in particular I like the look of the team.

“I like the look of last week’s team but this, I wouldn’t say it’s an experimental team by any stretch of the imagination. This is a good side that should perform on Saturday.”

With Jansen ruled out for the remainder of the autumn and Caelan Doris and Jack Conan already sidelined, uncapped Ulster player James McNabney will provide back-row cover on the bench.

The towering 23-year-old has started just one game for his province this season after recovering from an anterior cruciate ligament injury which forced him to miss the entire 2025-26 campaign.

McNabney grew up on a dairy and sheep farm and balanced rugby with equestrianism while attending Cambridge House Grammar School in Ballymena.

“I think it’s a brilliant story because it’s not a conventional way of coming through, from a rugby point of view, riding horses and farming until he was 16 and making a choice there,” said Farrell.

“Obviously, for the size of him you would have worried for the horses at that stage, wouldn’t you?

“But from a school that’s not a traditional rugby school, I think it’s a phenomenal story for him to come through the under-20s and do what he’s done at Ulster, and here he is, deserving his first cap opportunity on Saturday.”

Ireland, who have never lost to Fiji, sit third behind France and England in the Nations Championship northern hemisphere standings with three wins from four games.