Captain: Jamie Heaslip
Ireland have named Jamie Heaslip as captain for their opening November international against South Africa at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday.
The Leinster number eight will be leading his country for the first time when he walks the team out in Dublin as part of a side that contains one new cap in the starting team and a further three uncapped players among the replacements.
Richardt Strauss will earn his first cap for Ireland at hooker in the front-row alongside his provincial colleagues Cian Healy and Mike Ross.
Mike McCarthy is selected in the second-row alongside Donnacha Ryan, with Chris Henry selected to start at openside in the back-row, while Peter O'Mahony is selected at blindside.
In the backs, Simon Zebo will be earning his first start for Ireland at full-back, in a back three that has plenty of experience in Andrew Trimble and Tommy Bowe, who will be earning his 50th international cap for Ireland since making his debut against the USA in 2004.
Jonathan Sexton and Conor Murray are selected as the half-backs with Gordon D'Arcy and Keith Earls completing the starting line-up as the centre partnership.
Among the replacements, forwards David Kilcoyne, Michael Bent and Iain Henderson are all in line to make their international debuts should they be called into the game.
Ireland: 15 Simon Zebo, 14 Tommy Bowe, 13 Keith Earls, 12 Gordon D'Arcy, 11 Andrew Trimble, 10 Jonathan Sexton, 9 Conor Murray, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 Chris Henry, 6 Peter O'Mahony, 5 Mike McCarthy, 4 Donnacha Ryan, 3 Mike Ross, 2 Richardt Strauss, 1 Cian Healy.
Replacements: 16 Sean Cronin, 17 Dave Kilcoyne, 18 Michael Bent, 19 Donncha O'Callaghan, 20 Iain Henderson, 21 Eoin Reddan, 22 Ronan O'Gara, 23 Fergus McFadden.
Date: Saturday, November 10
Kick-off: 17:30 GMT
Venue: Aviva Stadium, Dublin
Referee: Wayne Barnes (England)
Assistant referees: Steve Walsh (Australia), Luke Pierce (England)
Television match official: Giulio De Santis (Italy)
Comments
philip274 says...
I can usually think of a standout moment for each Irish player, there are actually two in my mind for Earls. Tuilagi and Savea, enough said!
Hopefully he pulls up "hurt" in the warm up! Imagine if this was another 60 nil rout..............
Posted 05:06 10th November 2012
bothhands says...
Wexman I have to concur there. I also detest the tribalism on display, specifically the Monster brigade who really think that Ireland should pick from Munster alone. Cmon people, Kidney knows whats better for Ireland better than any fan. He watches them train, he watches them play, he mentors and speaks to them individually every day, and he trained Munster for years. Surely that qualifies him to select, oh yee of the red mist?
Anyway aside from that, its a real shame the pack is depleted of carriers, I was really lookin forward to our 8 giving those big SA lumps a decent bruising. I think we can probably live with the injuries behind the 8 if Sexton is on his game. POC SOB and mostly Ferris will be sorely missed, will be a long day for Healy.
Posted 17:43 09th November 2012
new_j4a says...
Ireland will have to kick....Sexton has feck all outside him. I hope the Boks will run the ball and not resort to Bulls rugby. As long as Lambie is on the field, the Bok backline should have lots of ball and severely test the Irish turnstiles.....If the Irish target Lambie, as they will, then Steyn comes on and the kicking fest begins....lots of practice for zebo....and a boring game.
Posted 12:43 09th November 2012
Connaughtabu says...
Fellow rugby fans,
Can we stop the personal stuff?
If someone says he/she won't go to the match
because of Kidney or the weather, so be it.
I'll be there. Wouldn't miss it, and I earnestly hope
Zebo can catch and kick the ball from his unaccustomed
position of fullback!
:-))
Posted 11:42 09th November 2012
JayStarr says...
Zebo at fullback really is no big deal - it's not like we have Israel Dagg..! I'd rather have Zebo than Zane Kirchner.
Posted 11:33 09th November 2012
mcdb06 says...
@ wexman Well said. Very tired of the negative comments, especially the numpties saying they wont watch or support Ireland while Kidney is around. Not Irish rugby fans. To all of them i say do us a favour, shove your comments up your own arse-they'll keep your heads company
Posted 11:27 09th November 2012
willy says...
@jmanngod
Know what your talking about before making comments. Bent isn't on the 3 yr residency rule, he is of irish descent and heritage & eligable under the grandparent rule.
@connaughtabu
I agree with Dougie don't write a player off and then ask can he do x y or z.
I don't think Zebo should even be in the squad, we have better young wingers/full backs Dave Kearney, Gilroy, O'Hallrahan, Luke O'Dea, Conway, Coughlan-Murray are all better than Zebo.
Murray should be 3rd choice 9. DOC & ROG should also be out Touhy and Jackson/Keatly/Madigan better options.
Darcy is a tough one cos who can you replace him with, Downey is injured and not as good, neither is Luke Marshall. Could possibly look at playing trimble 12 (or Fitzgerald when he returns from injury) but think for the moment there is no realistic option to replace darcy.
Its not Kidney's worst team but still far from Ireland's best available.
McLoughlin or Muldoon are unlucky not to be in the squad, I do rate Henderson highly but think he's a second row not a 6.
Posted 11:15 09th November 2012
new_j4a says...
@madraglas who says... "Ireland will always be in that 3rd-8th bracket in terms of world rugby" Did you mean to type 3rd? 5th-8th is a bit more realistic unless we take on more SH players. Since our team transcends national boundaries, could we not try Irish "National" Rugby Team consists of NI, RoI, and Samoa?
Posted 09:29 09th November 2012
rugbyjarhead says...
Healy
Strauss
Ross
Touhy (captain)
Ryan
Henry
Omahony
Wilson (heaslip needs a wake up call)
Reddan
Sexton
Gilroy
Trimble
Bowe
Earls
Maddigan
Posted 00:27 09th November 2012
jappers1983 says...
@gcp_jones
Cheers, I didnt know that was the case.
Good luck to Ireland, but I fear its going to make for brutal viewing.
Posted 23:19 08th November 2012
Dougie says...
@connaughtabu Can Zebo catch and kick the ball? Please don't put down players that you clearly haven't watched in the last year.
Posted 22:21 08th November 2012
ben7 says...
@irish fans.
Stop using your injuries as an early excuse. Its a minute injury toll when compared to SA and Australia
Posted 22:14 08th November 2012
carpelone says...
Would this team avoid the wooden spoon in the forthcoming 6N?
Hope that Ireland can get back their best players by then.
Posted 22:14 08th November 2012
BiggyFint says...
McCarthys selections seems to inspire mixed emotions. As a Connacht fan I try not to be biased but I think on form this season he has been much better than Thouhy and Kidney and Gert Smal seem to think so too.
Liam Toland wrote an interesting piece a few weeks ago in the irish times where he compared the contribution of the different Irish second rows over a round of the Rabo. According to the statistics, "Ulster¿s Dan Touhy made three tackles, O¿Connell made one with O¿Callaghan making five; nine in total ¿ McCarthy made 13! O¿Callaghan made no clean break, neither did O¿Connell, who ran with the ball for five metres with Touhy adding four metres. McCarthy beat two defenders making a clean break and totalled 29 metres carried. Only O¿Connell joined him on the lineout steals, beating him by two". The Springboks are a different story altogether but anyone whose watched a Connacht game or two knows Macca isn't afraid to get stuck in. Hopefully he'll have a good day in the lineout. I'd like to see Henderson come on in the second row rather than the backrow as Ryan and Henderson will probably be the Irish second rows by the time the WC come around.
Posted 22:12 08th November 2012
NHsaints says...
I seriously expect Ireland to get a good thrashing in this one 30-9 or something along those lines...although saying that they have a more dangerous back 3 and back row and the front row might be able to get a slight advantage.
Posted 21:02 08th November 2012
wexman says...
The thing I hate most about being an Irish fan is other Irish fans. Since the provinces became successful, rugby in Ireland is now full of 'supporters' who think they know the game when realistically they are completely clueless.
Just reading some of the comments here would drive you mad, apart from @currates_egg and one or two others who actually have some knowledge and understanding of the complex game that is rugby
Posted 20:57 08th November 2012
eddie_the_eagle says...
Delighted for Mike McCarthy, he's been in top form for 2 years now and deserves a shot. Would have loved to see Dave McSharry at 12 or Rob Henshaw at 15 given a chance to show what they can do as well. If McSharry can live up to his early promise he'll be an option to replace D'Arcy at 12.
Posted 20:39 08th November 2012
deprop says...
Still can't understand persisting with Murray over Reddan. Earls and D'Arcy will struggle. Up front, though, I think we look pretty good. Maybe its a 10 man game plan. Good luck to Heaslip.
Posted 20:12 08th November 2012
deprop says...
Still can't understand persisting with Murray over Reddan. Earls and D'Arcy will struggle. Up front, though, I think we look pretty good. Maybe its a 10 man game plan. Good luck to Heaslip.
Posted 20:12 08th November 2012
damo says...
Sack the manager please please please! !!!!!!!!!! Darcy and Earls 12 & 13 two small weak poor on defence between them i make a case their individual mistakes codt ireland a couple of 6 nations and any chance in Rwc darcys nissed tackle on phillips was the end for the last rwc, missed tackle on Rougerie home to france how is he picked . Amyone see connaught thump a toothless leinster Darcy played that gamr, his last try for Ireland??? Was it 2010? He has a try every ten games Mcfadden has a try every 3 for ireland what a useless selection
Posted 19:21 08th November 2012