Horgan To Start As Dempsey And Murphy Ruled Out

Shane Horgan will return to the Ireland starting line-up for the first time in the 2008 Six Nations championship this Saturday as both Girvan Dempsey and Geordan Murphy have been ruled out of the game against Wales.

Following a fitness test before the Ireland training session today, both Geordan Murphy and Girvan Dempsey have been ruled out of contention for the game against Wales this Saturday due to Achilles tendon and hip injuries respectively.

With both players unavailable, Rob Kearney moves from the left wing to full-back, with Tommy Bowe switching from the right wing to the left. Shane Horgan moves up to the starting side to take Bowe’s original position and Luke Fitzgerald joins the replacements bench.

IRELAND TEAM & REPLACEMENTS (v Wales, 2008 RBS 6 Nations, Croke Park, Saturday, March 8, kick-off 1.15pm local time):

15 – Rob Kearney (UCD/Leinster) 4

14 – Shane Horgan (Boyne/Leinster) 59

13 – Brian O’Driscoll (UCD/Leinster) 82 (capt)

12 – Andrew Trimble (Ballymena/Ulster) 22

11 – Tommy Bowe (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster) 11

10 – Ronan O’Gara (Cork Constitution/Munster) 80

9 – Eoin Reddan (London Wasps) 8   

1 – Marcus Horan (Shannon/Munster) 54  

2 – Rory Best (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster) 20

3 – John Hayes (Bruff/Munster) 82  

4 – Donncha O’Callaghan (Cork Constitution/Munster) 43

5 –  Paul O’Connell (Young Munster/Munster) 50

6 – Denis Leamy (Cork Constitution/Munster) 30  

7 – David Wallace (Garryowen/Munster) 44 

8 – Jamie Heaslip (Clontarf/Leinster) 6

Replacements

16 – Bernard Jackman (Clontarf/Leinster) 7
 
17 – Tony Buckley (Shannon/Munster) 5

18 – Mick O’Driscoll (Cork Constitution/Munster) 14

19 – Simon Easterby (Llanelli Scarlets) 64

20 – Peter Stringer (Shannon/Munster) 81

21 – Paddy Wallace (Ballymena/Ulster) 7

22 – Luke Fitzgerald (Blackrock College/Leinster) 2