Ireland Team To Play France

The Ireland team to play France in Saturday’s Rugby World Cup warm-up match in Bordeaux shows a total of nine changes to the side that took on Scotland last weekend.

The back-three remains unchanged with Rob Kearney, Andrew Trimble and Luke Fitzgerald all named in the starting line-up.

Paddy Wallace stays at inside centre, with Keith Earls getting his first taste of action this season at outside centre.

Ronan O’Gara and Eoin Reddan will form the half-back combination, taking over from Jonathan Sexton, who kicked Ireland’s only points against Scotland, and Tomas O’Leary.

In the forwards, one of the changes is a positional switch as Donnacha Ryan moves from the second row to the blindside flanker berth.

Donncha O’Callaghan comes in to partner Leo Cullen, who will again captain the team from the second row.

The other change to the back row is the inclusion of openside flanker Sean O’Brien, who starts his first game of the August schedule.

There is an entirely new front row, with Cian Healy, Rory Best and Mike Ross replacing Tom Court, Sean Cronin and the benched Tony Buckley.

Amongst the replacements, Paul O’Connell and Jamie Heaslip have been named in their first matchday 22 of the season, along with uncapped former Ireland Under-20 scrum half Conor Murray.

IRELAND Team & Replacements (v France, 2011 Rugby World Cup Warm-Up Test, Stade Chaban Delmas, Saturday, August 13, kick-off 8.45pm local time/7.45pm Irish time):

15 – Rob Kearney (UCD/Leinster)
14 – Andrew Trimble (Ballymena/Ulster)
13 – Keith Earls (Young Munster/Munster)
12 – Paddy Wallace (Ballymena/Ulster)
11 – Luke Fitzgerald (Blackrock College/Leinster)
10 – Ronan O’Gara (Cork Constitution/Munster)
9 – Eoin Reddan (Lansdowne/Leinster)
1 – Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster)
2 – Rory Best (Banbridge/Ulster)
3 – Mike Ross (Clontarf/Leinster)
4 – Donncha O’Callaghan (Cork Constitution/Munster)
5 – Leo Cullen (Blackrock College/Leinster) (capt)
6 – Donnacha Ryan (Shannon/Munster)
7 – Sean O’Brien (Clontarf/Leinster)
8 – Denis Leamy (Cork Constitution/Munster)

Replacements:

16 – Jerry Flannery (Shannon/Munster)
17 – Tony Buckley (Sale Sharks)
18 – Paul O’Connell (Young Munster/Munster)
19 – Jamie Heaslip (Naas/Leinster)
20 – Conor Murray (Garryowen/Munster)
21 – Fergus McFadden (Old Belvedere/Leinster)
22 – Felix Jones (Shannon/Munster)