Just four players that started against Japan have retained jerseys for Thursday’s game.
Joe Schmidt has named his Ireland team to face Russia in their World Cup Pool A encounter and change is most definitely afoot.
Niall Scannell, John Ryan, Jean Kleyn and newly arrived injury replacement Jordi Murphy will all make their tournament debuts. The most interesting selections, though, are the players that Schmidt has opted to start again, just five days after the shock loss to Japan.
Garry Ringrose and Peter O’Mahony, who switches to openside, are both starting what would be their third Test match in 12 days. Ringrose will partner Bundee Aki (below) in midfield as Robbie Henshaw – recovering from a hamstring tweak – sits another game out.
Rob Kearney starts fullback again despite failing a Head Injury Assessment in Saturday’s game against Japan. Kearney failed the initial Head Injury Assessment during the second half but has since passed HIAs 2 and 3.
Keith Earls switches from the right to left wing and Luke McGrath comes in at scrumhalf. Johnny Sexton returns to the 10 jersey and is Ireland’s captain for the game. There is an all Munster tight five while O’Mahony is joined by Rhys Ruddock and Murphy in the back row.
There is no specialist scrumhalf on the bench but Joey Carbery looks the likely cover. The Munster star did play scrumhalf at underage level but it is a punt from Schmidt, who opted to leave the likes of John Cooney and Kieran Marmion at home.
Ireland XV to face Russia
15. Rob Kearney
14. Andrew Conway
13. Garry Ringrose
12. Bundee Aki
11. Keith Earls
10. Johnny Sexton (c)
9. Luke McGrath
1. Dave Kilcoyne
2. Niall Scannell
3. John Ryan
4. Tadhg Beirne
5. Jean Kleyn
6. Rhys Ruddock
7. Peter O’Mahony
8. Jordi Murphy
Replacements: Sean Cronin, Andrew Porter, Tadhg Furlong, Iain Henderson, CJ Stander, Joey Carbery, Jack Carty, Jordan Larmour.
The Ireland vs. Russia game takes place at the altogether more decent kick-off of 11:15am (Irish time) in Kobe City.
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The latest episode sees Barry Murphy, Andrew Trimble and Jerry Flannery look back on a massive World Cup bump in the road for Ireland.
WATCH THE IRELAND Vs. JAPAN HIGHLIGHTS HERE:
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