Two changes to our predicted XV from a week ago.
On Saturday afternoon, Will Addison was withdrawn from the starting Ulster line-up for their pre-season friendly against Glasgow Warriors. That, along with reports from Japan of a Robbie Henshaw injury, had many suspecting the IRFU may be preparing to call up Addison.
The versatile Ulster back has indeed been put on stand-by but he will not be flying out to Japan just yet.
“Robbie pulled up with a bit of tightness in his hamstring,” said Ireland coach Joe Schmidt. “He has a scan at 2pm. That will give us more information.”
That scan will have taken place by now but no further updated is expected until Monday’s press conference at the Hotel New Otani Makuhari. Addison has been told to stay fit and healthy and not to stray too far from his phone.
“When he pulled up he wasn’t accelerating,” Schmidt added. “We’d be hopeful it is not be too bad.
“Is it likely to rule him out of this week? Yeah, you would have to say it is likely, the fact that he did pull up but we’d be hopeful it is not too bad. I don’t want to guess until we get the scan.”
Henshaw missed Ireland’s first two games of the 2015 World Cup with injury and a mix of hamstring and shoulder issues have seen him play only two games for his country since June 2018. He featured in one World Cup warm-up game and looked good in that win over Wales.
The likelihood now is that Aki and Ringrose will start in midfield. Schmidt has used 15 different midfield combinations since 2015 with Aki and Ringrose, according to Opta, getting the most Test minutes together.
- Aki & Ringrose – 8 starts, 1247 minutes, 186 carries, 11 clean breaks, 3 tries, 5 try assists, gainline success 44%
- Henshaw & Ringrose – 6 starts, 927 minutes, 139 carries, 4 clean breaks, 1 try, 0 try assists, gainline success 51%
- Aki & Henshaw – 6 starts, 924 minutes, 123 carries, 12 clean breaks, 3 tries, 1 try assist, gainline success 50%
- Aki & Farrell – 5 starts, 710 minutes, 95 carries, 2 clean breaks, 1 try, 0 assists, 50% gainline success
The Henshaw injury sees Ringrose coming in to our predicted Ireland XV, with Jordan Larmour promoted to the bench. It may be the Japan game before we get to see Keith Earls in action at his third World Cup.
Our Ireland team to face Scotland
1. Cian Healy (Leinster)
2. Rory Best (Ulster)
3. Tadhg Furlong (Leinster)4. Iain Henderson (Ulster)
5. James Ryan (Leinster)6. Peter O’Mahony (Munster)
7. Josh van der Flier (Leinster)
8. CJ Stander (Munster)9. Conor Murray (Munster)
10. Johnny Sexton (Leinster)11. Jacob Stockdale (Ulster)
12. Bundee Aki (Connacht)
13. Garry Ringrose (Leinster)
14. Andrew Conway (Munster)15. Rob Kearney (Leinster)
Replacements: Sean Cronin, Dave Kilcoyne, Andrew Porter, Jean Kleyn, Jack Conan, Luke McGrath, Jack Carty, Jordan Larmour.
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