Two Changes On Ireland Side

The injury to Reggie Corrigan and the return from injury of Girvan Dempsey mean there are just two changes on the Ireland side for the game against France at Lansdowne Road on Saturday

The injury to Reggie Corrigan and the return from injury of Girvan Dempsey mean there are just two changes on the Ireland side for the game against France at Lansdowne Road on Saturday. Munster’s Marcus Horan steps up to replace Corrigan with Dempsey returning to full-back. That means Geordan Murphy who played in that position against Italy, moves to the wing at the expense of John Kelly. The Irish management have left a vacancy in the replacements because there is still a slight worry that Dempsey may suffer a re-action to his groin injury and they will wait until later in the week before deciding whether Kelly or Rob Henderson fill that vacancy.

Meanwhile, the French side shows just one change from the side that hammered Scotland, 22 year old Biarritz scrum-half, Dimitri Yachvili replacing captain Fabien Galthie.

Ireland
Girvan Dempsey (Leinster/Terenure College); Geordan Murphy (Leicester), Brian O’Driscoll capt (Leinster/Blackrock College), Kevin Maggs (Bath), Denis Hickie (Leinster/St. Mary’s College); David Humphreys (Ulster/Dungannon), Peter Stringer (Munster/Shannon); Marcus Horan (Munster/Shannon), Shane Byrne (Leinster/Blackrock College), John Hayes (Munster/Shannon); Gary Longwell (Ulster/Ballymena), Malcolm O’Kelly (Leinster/St. Mary’s College); Victor Costello (Leinster/St. Mary’s College), Keith Gleeson (Leinster/St. Mary’s College), Anthony Foley (Munster/Shannon).

Replacements:16 – Frank Sheahan (Munster/Cork Constitution), 17 – Justin
Fitzpatrick (Ulster/Dungannon), 18 – Leo Cullen (Leinster/Blackrock College), 19 – Alan Quinlan (Munster/Shannon), 20 – Guy Easterby
(Llanelli), 21 – Ronan O’Gara (Munster/Cork Constitution), 22 -A.N. Other

FRANCE:C Poitrenaud (Toulouse); A Rougerie (Montferrand), X Garbajosa (Toulouse), D Traille (Pau), V Clerc (Stade Toulousain); F Gelez (Agen), D Yachvili (Biarritz); J-J Crenca (Agen), R Ibanez (Castres), S Marconnet (Stade Frangais), F Pelous capt (Toulouse, O Brouzet (Montferrand); S Betsen (Biarritz), O Magne (Montferrand), I Harinordoquy (Pau).
Replacements: 16 J-B Rue (Agen), 17 C Califano (Saracens/Eng), 18 D Auradou (Stade Frangais), 19 S Chabal (Bourgoin), 20 M Barrau (Agen), 21 G Merceron (Montferrand), 22 T Castaignede (Saracens).