Johnny Sexton James Lowe Andy Farrell Stuart Maccloskey Conor Murray James Ryan Iain Henderson Craig Casey Finlay Bealham Tadhg Beirne Rob Herring Ross Byrne Garry Ringrose Hugo Keenan Caelan Doris Jack Conan Dan Sheehan Kieran Crowley Tommaso Menoncello Paolo Garbisi Stephen Varney Michele Lamaro Edoardo Padovani France Italy Ireland county Ross Rome Six Nations Sport Rugby as Johnny Sexton James Lowe Andy Farrell Stuart Maccloskey Conor Murray James Ryan Iain Henderson Craig Casey Finlay Bealham Tadhg Beirne Rob Herring Ross Byrne Garry Ringrose Hugo Keenan Caelan Doris Jack Conan Dan Sheehan Kieran Crowley Tommaso Menoncello Paolo Garbisi Stephen Varney Michele Lamaro Edoardo Padovani France Italy Ireland county Ross Rome

Byrne starts as Ireland make six changes for Italy

rte.ie

Ross Byrne will make his first Guinness Six Nations start as one of six changes to the Ireland team to take on Italy on Saturday.Leinster out-half Byrne, making his 17th appearance for Ireland, replaces the injured Johnny Sexton, who injured his groin in the win over France in round two.Andy Farrell has also opted to make a change at scrum-half where Craig Casey, also making his first championship start, takes over from Munster team-mate Conor Murray for the match in Rome (2.15pm, live on RTÉ2, RTÉ Player and RTÉ Radio 1).Elsewhere, as expected, Iain Henderson comes in for the injured Tadhg Beirne in the second row, while Ronan Kelleher starts in place of Rob Herring, who drops out of the match-day squad.

Dan Sheehan is the replacement hooker.Jack Conan replaces Peter O'Mahony in the starting line-up with Caelan Doris shifting to the blindside flank.In the centre, Bundee Aki takes the place of Stuart McCloskey, who starts on the bench.

Garry Ringrose will win his 50th cap alongside Aki.The back-three remains the same with Hugo Keenan at full-back and James Lowe and Mack Hansen on the wings.Andrew Porter and Finlay Bealham keep their positions in the front row.James Ryan will captain the side for the seventh time in the second row, while Josh van der Flier packs down at openside.Italy boss Kieran Crowley, meanwhile, has made three changes to the team that were beaten by England with out-half Paolo Garbisi, wing Pierre Bruno and tighthead Simone Ferrari coming into the side.Italy: Ange Capuozzo; Edoardo Padovani, Juan Ignacio Brex, Tommaso Menoncello, Pierre Bruno; Paolo Garbisi, Stephen Varney; Danilo Fischetti, Giacomo Nicotera, Simone Ferrari; Niccolò Cannone, Federico Ruzza; Sebastian Negri, Michele Lamaro, Lorenzo

Related News
Centre Garry Ringrose and lock Iain Henderson have been ruled out of Ireland’s final Six Nations fixture at home to England on Saturday but several other injured players are being managed through this week in the hopes of being fit.
EDINBURGH : Wings Mack Hansen and James Lowe scored a try each for Ireland as flyhalf Johnny Sexton became the joint leading scorer in Six Nations history following a pulsating 22-7 victory over Scotland at Murrayfield on Sunday.
Scotland's hopes of winning the Six Nations title for the first time were dashed as table-toppers Ireland proved too strong at Murrayfield during a 22-7 win.
Ireland coach Andy Farrell will field a strong line-up for Sunday's Six Nations trip to Scotland as several players return from injury, with captain Johnny Sexton, tighthead prop Tadhg Furlong and centre Garry Ringrose fit again.
The Ireland prop Tadhg Furlong will make his first appearance of this year’s Six Nations in Sunday’s fixture with Scotland.

Latest News

Change privacy settings
This page might use cookies if your analytics vendor requires them.