Dan Leavy and Jack Conan will make their first NatWest 6 Nations starts, while Jordan Larmour is poised for his international debut, as Ireland return to the Aviva Stadium for their opening home match of the calendar year against Italy.
2018 NATWEST 6 NATIONS CHAMPIONSHIP: Saturday, February 10
IRELAND (3rd) v ITALY (6th), Aviva Stadium, 2.15pm (live TV3/UTV/ITV/FR2/DMAX/NBC/RTÉ Radio 1/IRFU Live Blog)
Team News: Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt has made four changes to the pack as they prepare to host Conor O’Shea’s Italy in round 2 of the NatWest 6 Nations at the Aviva Stadium.
Wicklow man Jack Conan will make his Championship debut at number 8, with his Leinster colleague Dan Leavy the second change to the back row which took to the field against France. Set for his first home start for Ireland, Leavy replaces knee injury victim Josh van der Flier at openside flanker.
Captain Rory Best, who equals Paul O’Connell as the most-capped Ireland forward of all-time (108 caps), is joined in the front row by Jack McGrath, who comes in as a straight swap for Cian Healy, and tighthead Tadhg Furlong.
Devin Toner returns in the second row alongside Iain Henderson, while there are 80th and 70th caps respectively for Rob Kearney and Jonathan Sexton, the drop goal hero from Paris, in an unchanged back-line which sees Robbie Henshaw and Bundee Aki start together for the third time as an international centre pairing.
Exciting young talent Jordan Larmour is in line for his first Ireland senior cap at the age of just 20. He is named on a replacements bench which also includes three more potential Six Nations debutants – forwards Andrew Porter and Quinn Roux and back-up out-half Joey Carbery. Roux’s Connacht team-mate Kieran Marmion is also part of the matchday squad this week.
Commenting on the incoming players for the Italy game, Joe Schmidt said: “I think Dan (Leavy) visibly, he got straight into the game, carried strongly, got off the line and defended strongly. You just want players to be decisive and grab the game by the scruff of the neck and we think Dan did that.
“The balance, with Peter O’Mahony’s leadership experience there and the two younger lads bringing enthusiasm, athleticism and hunger. (Sebastian) Negri was really impressive last week as a newcomer (for Italy), but that’s balanced up by the legend that is Sergio Parisse.
“CJ Stander had 42 cleanouts and 23 carries in the game in Paris, which while not attritional for CJ, he’s in great shape, it’s really rewarding some performances by Jack Conan as well. But it’s an opportunity to try to keep a freshness in these games – they do become, if not anything else, mentally challenging.
“There’s a whole gamut of things Jack (Conan) can bring to the party, and for those who remember the tour in the summer, Jack was a really impressive performer for us. This is another opportunity for him.”
He added: “I expect Jordan to provide what he’s been providing in the provincial matches so far, that raw acceleration and the ability to beat players. And without the ball he wants to make a big contribution, too.
“It’s a good situation that he could potentially slot in around experienced players, but at the same time, you don’t place a player and expect them to be looked after. He has an expectation that he’ll look after himself and look after what he needs to do and bring those exciting elements I talked about to the game.”
Meanwhile, Italy head coach Conor O’Shea have sought to freshen up his forwards for today’s NatWest 6 Nations tussle with Ireland, bringing in front rowers Nicola Quaglio and Luca Bigi, as well as flanker Braam Steyn.
With Andrea Lovotti, Leonardo Ghiraldini and Renato Giammarioli all making way, there are three changes in personnel compared to the side that ended up as 46-15 losers to defending champions England in Rome last Sunday.
Steyn returns to the starting XV, in place of the 22-year-old Giammaroili at openside flanker, while his Benetton Rugby colleagues Quaglio and Bigi feature in a front row which contains just 19 caps. It will be Quaglio’s first international start and a first run-on appearance for both the loosehead and hooker in the Six Nations.
Captain Sergio Parisse, who plays his club rugby with Stade Francais, is the odd one out in a pack dominated by Benetton players. Tommaso Benvenuti and Mattia Bellini – the Azzurri’s two try scorers against England – continue in a back-line which is without Dublin-born former Leinster out-half Ian McKinley, who was unable to dislodge Tommaso Allan or Carlo Canna.
Head coach O’Shea explained: “The romance is there but Ian is not here to be picked on romance. He has been unbelievable for us this week, he is pushing things on. He is here for a reason and he may still have to come on and do a job if things go wrong.
“He was disappointed because he wanted to play. I knew it would mean a lot to him. But he is a rugby player, not a story and he wants to be picked because he is the number one player and not the story. Sport is full of romance but the hard-nosed side of it is the guy who has the jersey is playing well and the next guy in is a points machine.
“I would have loved to pick him, I wanted to pick him in so many ways but what message does that send to other players? It’s an amazing story, he is a force of nature. I’m sure this setback will steel him even further and given the way he has responded to set-backs in the past, I am sure he will respond.”
The former Ireland international added: “If Ireland play to their potential tomorrow and we play to ours, Ireland win, full stop. If I was sitting here with the players in front of me, and I told them we’d charge over the barricades and win the match, they’d laugh at me.
“I want them to go out and play the best game they can, and what happens happens. We’ll play the game, we’ll give it everything we’ve got, then we’ll dust ourselves down, and keep on this journey we’re on. We want to do something special in the short-term with this group over the next two years.”
NatWest 6 Nations Results/Fixtures
IRELAND: Rob Kearney (UCD/Leinster); Keith Earls (Young Munster/Munster), Robbie Henshaw (Buccaneers/Leinster), Bundee Aki (Galwegians/Connacht), Jacob Stockdale (Ballynahinch/Ulster); Jonathan Sexton (St. Mary’s College/Leinster), Conor Murray (Garryowen/Munster); Jack McGrath (St. Mary’s College/Leinster), Rory Best (Banbridge/Ulster) (capt), Tadhg Furlong (Clontarf/Leinster), Iain Henderson (Ballynahinch/Ulster), Devin Toner (Lansdowne/Leinster), Peter O’Mahony (Cork Constitution/Munster), Dan Leavy (UCD/Leinster), Jack Conan (Old Belvedere/Leinster).
Replacements: Sean Cronin (St. Mary’s College/Leinster), Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster), Andrew Porter (UCD/Leinster), Quinn Roux (Galwegians/Connacht), CJ Stander (Shannon/Munster), Kieran Marmion (Corinthians/Connacht), Joey Carbery (Clontarf/Leinster), Jordan Larmour (St. Mary’s College/Leinster).
ITALY: Matteo Minozzi (Zebre); Tommaso Benvenuti (Benetton Rugby), Tommaso Boni (Zebre), Tommaso Castello (Zebre), Mattia Bellini (Zebre); Tommaso Allan (Benetton Rugby), Marcello Violi (Zebre); Nicola Quaglio (Benetton Rugby), Luca Bigi (Benetton Rugby), Simone Ferrari (Benetton Rugby), Alessandro Zanni (Benetton Rugby), Dean Budd (Benetton Rugby), Sebastian Negri (Benetton Rugby), Braam Steyn (Benetton Rugby), Sergio Parisse (Stade Francais) (capt).
Replacements: Leonardo Ghiraldini (Toulouse), Andrea Lovotti (Zebre), Tiziano Pasquali (Benetton Rugby), Federico Ruzza (Benetton Rugby), Maxime Mbanda (Zebre), Edoardo Gori (Benetton Rugby), Carlo Canna (Zebre), Jayden Hayward (Benetton Rugby).
Referee: Romain Poite (France)
Assistant Referees: Pascal Gaüzère (France), Matthew Carley (England)
Television Match Official: David Grashoff (England)
Match Odds (Paddy Power): Ireland to win: 1/100; Draw: 100/1; Italy to win: 66/1
Pre-Match Quotes: Rory Best (Ireland) – “We want flow in our game, but at the same time we had to look back (to the France game) and every example we saw, where you could blame the referee, we didn’t do something right, whether it was the ball carry, the fight on the ground, whether it was the reaction to the clean-out, whatever it was.
“I think that is something we are aware of always, from game to game, but we didn’t solve it as well as we could have (in Paris). Nearly every solution is in our hands and we need to be better. It’s something that at training we are really aware of. Okay, we don’t necessarily knock lumps out of each other training at the breakdown, but we have got to get into good habits.
“Josh’s injury obviously created a change there, but any of those back rows that are in the squad – you’d be really, really happy to see them starting. That has been reflected in the selection. Yes, we needed to freshen up but the reason a squad has been built over the last number of years is for moments like this, whenever you want to freshen up but also give guys just rewards for the way they’ve played.
“You look at Leinster and how Jack Conan has been playing. You’d have to say that last weekend he was very unlucky not to be involved in some shape or form in Paris. That’s what you need and you don’t know how many more back row injuries you could have between now and the end of the Six Nations. To get guys with Six Nations experience, but also to keep encouraging them and showing them that form at provincial level does matter.”
Sergio Parisse (Italy) – “Conor showed straight away he had that vision and ambition, he’s a young coach, doing a great job. Because he’s smart and intelligent, he talked so well and was really confident he could do something to change Italian rugby.
“I really loved that. He gave me an extra motivation as well to continue to play with the Italian team. But to work together with the coach as captain, it’s great when you have such a strong relationship. I don’t think the team is more motivated because we’re playing Ireland and because of Conor, but of course for him it’s special to come here, to coach the team at the Aviva Stadium.
“But I think Conor prepared the week with the same spirit and emotion as the last game against England. I think Conor as well, he doesn’t care if we’re playing Ireland – he just wants to see the team perform well, a team that believes as we do in the system and the way we’re working.
“Every time he asks us to give everything and to think of the performance, and he takes full responsibility for that. So as captain, and as a team we really want to give him a very good performance here in Ireland, for us but also for him, because he’s doing such good work here with us, and he really does deserve a good performance from us.”
Pre-Match Links –
Irish Rugby TV: Ireland v Italy Team Announcement Press Conference
In Pics: Ireland Training At Carton House
In The Chair: Sean Cronin And Fergus McFadden
Recent Meetings –
2015: RBS 6 Nations: Italy 3 Ireland 26, Stadio Olimpico; Rugby World Cup Pool D: Ireland 16 Italy 9, Olympic Stadium, London
2016: RBS 6 Nations: Ireland 58 Italy 15, Aviva Stadium
2017: RBS 6 Nations: Italy 10 Ireland 63, Stadio Olimpico
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