Ireland Team To Play France

The Ireland team to play France in their refixed RBS 6 Nations Championship match in Paris on Sunday (kick-off 4pm local time/3pm Irish time) has been named.

The Ireland management have again named an unchanged team for the return trip to the French capital..

Cian Healy, Gordon D’Arcy, Rob Kearney and Sean O’Brien have all been named in the starting line-up having recovered from the various minor injuries picked up in the game against Italy.

Ronan O’Gara, who last weekend became Ireland’s most-capped player with 118 appearances, is named in the replacements.

Ireland captain Paul O’Connell will win his 85th cap as he leads the team out against France on Sunday.

“We took a look at how we played against Italy. We have an eight-day turnaround which has given us more time to freshen up,” commented head coach Declan Kidney.

“The errors that were made we can adjust and we’ll be better for having that 80 minutes (against Italy) under the belt.

“The lads who came on against Italy did exceptionally well and made a hugely positive impact, but I had to weigh that up against the lads who did a lot of the unseen work earlier in the game.”

In other news a handful of late returns for Ireland v Scotland are now on sale to Supporters Club members. Login for more details.

IRELAND Team & Replacements (v France, 2012 RBS 6 Nations Championship, Stade De France, Sunday, March 4, kick-off 4pm local time/3pm Irish time):

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)