Henshaw and Payne start for Ireland

Editor

Ireland have named Robbie Henshaw and Jared Payne as their centre combination that will face South Africa in Dublin on Saturday.

Ireland have named Robbie Henshaw and Jared Payne as their centre pair that will take on South Africa at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin on Saturday.

There is one new cap in the matchday 23, with Ulster’s Payne set to make his debut alongside Henshaw in an exciting new centre partnership.

Paul O’Connell captains the side and is joined in the engine room by Devin Toner. The back-row is made up of Jamie Heaslip, Chris Henry and Peter O’Mahony while the front-row sees Jack McGrath and Mike Ross pack down either side of their provincial team-mate, hooker Sean Cronin.

Conor Murray and Johnny Sexton are re-united at half-back and Tommy Bowe returns to the back three for the first time since last November and starts alongside Simon Zebo and Rob Kearney.

There is plenty of impact set to come off the bench with Richardt Strauss, Dave Kilcoyne, Rodney Ah You, Mike McCarthy and Rhys Ruddock providing cover for the pack and Eoin Reddan, Ian Madigan and Felix Jones covering the outfield.

Ireland: 15 Rob Kearney, 14 Tommy Bowe, 13 Jared Payne, 12 Robbie Henshaw 11 Simon Zebo, 10 Jonathan Sexton, 9 Conor Murray, 8 Jamie Heaslip 7 Chris Henry, 6 Peter O’Mahony, 5 Paul O’Connell, 4 Devin Toner, 3 Mike Ross, 2 Sean Cronin, 1 Jack McGrath.
Replacements: 16 Richardt Strauss, 17 Dave Kilkoyne, 18 Rodney Ah You, 19 Mike McCarthy, 20 Rhys Ruddock, 21 Eoin Reddan, 22 Ian Madigan, 23 Felix Jones.

Date: Saturday, November 8
Kick-off: 17:30 GMT
Venue: Aviva Stadium, Dublin
Referee: Romain Poite (France)
Assistant referees: Mathieu Raynal (France), Alexandre Ruiz (France)
Television match official: Jim Yuille (Scotland)