IRELAND: Michael Lowry (Banbridge/Ulster); Mack Hansen (Connacht), Garry Ringrose (UCD/Leinster), Robbie Henshaw (Buccaneers/Leinster), James Lowe (Leinster); Joey Carbery (Clontarf/Munster), Jamison Gibson-Park (Leinster); Andrew Porter (UCD/Leinster), Dan Sheehan (Lansdowne/Leinster), Tadhg Furlong (Clontarf/Leinster), Tadhg Beirne (Lansdowne/Munster), Ryan Baird (Dublin University/Leinster), Peter O’Mahony (Cork Constitution/Munster) (capt), Josh van der Flier (UCD/Leinster), Caelan Doris (St. Mary’s College/Leinster).
Replacements: Rob Herring (Ballynahinch/Ulster), Dave Kilcoyne (UL Bohemians/Munster), Finlay Bealham (Buccaneers/Connacht), Kieran Treadwell (Ballymena/Ulster), Jack Conan (Old Belvedere/Leinster), Craig Casey (Shannon/Munster), Jonathan Sexton (St. Mary’s College/Leinster), James Hume (Banbridge/Ulster).
ITALY: Edoardo Padovani (Benetton Rugby); Pierre Bruno (Zebre Parma), Juan Ignacio Brex (Benetton Rugby), Leonardo Marin (Benetton Rugby), Monty Ioane (Benetton Rugby); Paolo Garbisi (Montpellier), Stephen Varney (Gloucester); Danilo Fischetti (Zebre Parma), Gianmarco Lucchesi (Benetton Rugby), Pietro Ceccarelli (Brive), Niccolò Cannone (Benetton Rugby), Federico Ruzza (Benetton Rugby), Giovanni Pettinelli (Benetton Rugby), Michele Lamaro (Benetton Rugby) (capt), Toa Halafihi (Benetton Rugby).
Replacements: Epalahame Faiva (Benetton Rugby), Ivan Nemer (Benetton Rugby), Tiziano Pasquali (Benetton Rugby), David Sisi (Zebre Parma), Manuel Zuliani (Benetton Rugby), Braam Steyn (Benetton Rugby), Alessandro Fusco (Fiamme Oro Rugby/Zebre Parma), Marco Zanon (Benetton Rugby).
Referee: Nika Amashukeli (Georgia)
Assistant Referees: Matthew Carley, Christophe Ridley (both England)
Television Match Official: Eric Gauzins (France)
Pre-Match Quotes: Dan Sheehan (Ireland) –
I think it (the France game) was extremely valuable, the whole thing. To get a 60-minute block at that level and at that intensity was a huge step which I probably hadn’t experienced before.
“So to get that experience for games down the line which share the same significance, it was huge. In terms of performance, I thought I went well.
“I thought as a team we maybe struggled to do the basics and commit to our game-plan and just execute on the smaller things like set-piece and executing our set-piece moves.
“We didn’t really get into our flow and sometimes with discipline and losing breakdown, we couldn’t get momentum and it was them just kicking points.
“I was only chatting to someone yesterday and I was saying how I spent four years in the Academy doing the same sort of thing for four years and then made my debut for Leinster in October last season, then Ireland debut a year later, and then Six Nations debut only a few months later.
“It’s all happened really quickly and it’s just me trying to stay in the zone and keep focused on the task ahead and not getting too taken away by it all and just enjoying the moment.”
Kieran Crowley (Italy) –
We have prepared for the Ireland match by focusing on the aspects of the game that did not satisfy us in the first two games.
“We face the next commitment with energy and the desire to improve. It will be a physically tough match against one of the strongest teams in the world.”
Pre-Match Links –