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Ireland Team To Play England

The Ireland team and replacements to play England at Twickenham on St. Patrick’s Day in the final game of the 2012 RBS 6 Nations Championship has been named.

There is one change to the starting line-up which took to the pitch last weekend. Flanker Sean O’Brien returns to the openside berth having recovered from the skin infection which ruled him out of the win over Scotland

Peter O’Mahony, who made his first Test start against the Scots, reverts to the replacements bench.

Keith Earls and Cian Healy, team-mates from the Ireland Under-20s’ 2007 Grand Slam success, will both win their 30th senior caps on Saturday, while experienced lock Donncha O’Callaghan joins Paul O’Connell on the 85 cap mark.

Meanwhile, stand-in captain Rory Best will become Ireland’s most-capped hooker with his 59th Test appearance for his country on Saturday.

IRELAND Team & Replacements (v England, 2012 RBS 6 Nations Championship, Twickenham, Saturday, March 17, kick-off 5pm):

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 – Eoin Reddan (Lansdowne/Leinster)
1 – Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster)
2 – Rory Best (Banbridge/Ulster) (capt)
3 – Mike Ross (Clontarf/Leinster)
4 – Donncha O’Callaghan (Cork Constitution/Munster)
5 – Donnacha Ryan (Shannon/Munster)
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 – Mike McCarthy (Buccaneers/Connacht)
19 – Peter O’Mahony (Cork Constitution/Munster)
20 – Tomas O’Leary (Dolphin/Munster)
21 – Ronan O’Gara (Cork Constitution/Munster)
22 – Fergus McFadden (Old Belvedere/Leinster)