Ireland name strong team to play Italy this weekend

Ireland have made four changes to the team that defeated Scotland earlier this month with David Kilcoyne, Sean Cronin, Ultan Dillane and Jordi Murphy all brought into the starting side.

Ireland got their Six Nations campaign back on track with a 22-13 win over Scotland in Edinburgh following an opening round loss to England and head coach Joe Schmidt is taking no big risks against Italy this Sunday by naming a near full strength side. Peter O'Mahony will captain the team in the absence of Rory Best while the uncapped Jack Carty could make his test debut after being named on the bench. Ireland Team & Replacements (v Italy, 2019 Guinness Six Nations Championship, Stadio Olimpico, Rome KO 4pm local/3pm Irish) 15. Rob Kearney (UCD/Leinster) 88 caps 14. Keith Earls (Young Munster/Munster) 74 caps 13. Chris Farrell (Young Munster/Munster) 4 caps 12. Bundee Aki (Galwegians/Connacht) 14 caps 11. Jacob Stockdale (Lurgan/Ulster) 16 caps 10. Jonathan Sexton (St Marys College/Leinster) 80 caps (vc) 9. Conor Murray (Garryowen/Munster) 69 caps 1. Dave Kilcoyne (UL Bohemians/Munster) 26 caps 2. Sean Cronin (St Mary’s College/Leinster) 67 caps 3. Tadhg Furlong (Clontarf/Leinster) 30 caps 4. Ultan Dillane (Corinthians/Connacht) 12 caps 5. Quinn Roux (Galwegians/Connacht) 10 caps 6. Peter O’Mahony (Cork Constitution/Munster) 54 caps (c) 7. Sean O’Brien (UCD/Leinster) 54 caps 8. Jordi Murphy (Lansdowne/Ulster) 26 caps Replacements 16. Niall Scannell (Dolphin/Munster) 11 caps 17. Jack McGrath (St Marys College/Leinster) 53 caps 18. John Ryan (Cork Constitution/Munster) 16 caps 19. Iain Henderson (Queens University/Ulster) 42 caps 20. Josh van der Flier (UCD/Leinster) 15 caps 21. John Cooney (Terenure College/Ulster) 6 caps 22. Jack Carty (Buccaneers/Connacht)* 23. Andrew Conway (Garryowen/Munster) 10 caps *denotes uncapped player