Ireland Team To Play Italy

The Ireland team to play Italy in the RBS 6 Nations Championship at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday (kick-off 1.30pm) has been named.

The Ireland management has named the same starting line-up and replacements from the postponed game against France two weeks ago.

Centre Gordon D’Arcy will win his 65th cap for Ireland having first been capped against Romania in 1999. The uncapped Peter O’Mahony is included among the replacements.

In other news, the last remaining tickets for the Ireland v Scotland match have gone on sale on www.ticketmaster.ie today.

Ireland v Italy tickets have already sold out through the clubs, the Irish Rugby Supporters Club and Ticketmaster.

IRELAND Team & Replacements (v Italy, 2012 RBS 6 Nations Championship, Aviva Stadium, Saturday, February 25, kick-off 1.30pm):

15 – Rob Kearney (UCD/Leinster)
14 – Tommy Bowe (Ospreys)
13 – Keith Earls (Young Munster/Munster)
12 – Gordon D’Arcy (Lansdowne/Leinster)
11 – Andrew Trimble (Ballymena/Ulster)
10 – Jonathan Sexton (St. Mary’s College/Leinster)
9 – Conor Murray (Garryowen/Munster)
1 – Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster)
2 – Rory Best (Banbridge/Ulster)
3 – Mike Ross (Clontarf/Leinster)
4 – Donncha O’Callaghan (Cork Constitution/Munster)
5 – Paul O’Connell (Young Munster/Munster) (capt)
6 – Stephen Ferris (Dungannon/Ulster)
7 – Sean O’Brien (Clontarf/Leinster)
8 – Jamie Heaslip (Naas/Leinster)

Replacements:

16 – Sean Cronin (St. Mary’s College/Leinster)
17 – Tom Court (Malone/Ulster)
18 – Donnacha Ryan (Shannon/Munster)
19 – Peter O’Mahony (Cork Constitution/Munster) *
20 – Eoin Reddan (Lansdowne/Leinster)
21 – Ronan O’Gara (Cork Constitution/Munster)
22 – Fergus McFadden (Old Belvedere/Leinster)

* Denotes uncapped player