Kevin Maggs is to take the place of injured centre Shane Horgan, in Ireland coach Eddie O’Sullivan’s only change for Saturday’s crunch RBS Six Nations clash with France at Lansdowne Road.
Kevin Maggs is to take the place of injured centre Shane Horgan, in Ireland coach Eddie O’Sullivan’s only change for Saturday’s crunch RBS Six Nations clash with France at Lansdowne Road.
Ulster midfielder Maggs will win his 68th cap, after last year’s Player of the tournament Gordon D’Arcy (hamstring) missed out in the race to be fit to assume the inside centre role.
Speaking to the press, O’Sullivan admitted that D’Arcy “would not be risked”, but added that the 25-year-old ”could be out for Welsh game as well” on Saturday, March 19.
Tests on D’Arcy’s injury yesterday, revealed ”a lot of scar tissue” following his start as Leinster full-back in Sunday’s 16-12 Celtic League loss to the Ospreys. D’Arcy was substituted after an hour at Donnybrook, after feeling ”a tightness in the muscle.”
D’Arcy’s Leinster team mate Horgan was forced to pull out last week, after fracturing his thumb in the 19-13 defeat of World champions England.
British and Irish Lions coach Sir Clive Woodward was present at Ireland’s training session today, and he will be in the camp all week monitoring players’ progress ahead of June’s tour to New Zealand.
Meanwhile, NEC Harlequins full-back Gavin Duffy – a late try scorer against Scotland last month – is promoted to the replacements bench, taking the place of Maggs.
Leinster and Ireland winger Denis Hickie will also follow in the footsteps of Ronan O’Gara, winning his 50th cap against the French, having scored on his Test debut against Wales back in 1997.
Brian O’Driscoll will captain Ireland for the 21st time.
The Ireland team to play France in the RBS Six Nations at Lansdowne Road on Saturday, March 12 (kick-off 1.30pm), is as follows:
15 – Geordan Murphy
(Leicester), DOB 19/04/78, 29 Caps
14 – Girvan Dempsey
(Leinster – Terenure College), 02/10/75, 56 Caps
13 – Brian O’Driscoll
(Leinster – Blackrock College), 21/01/1979, 57 Caps (Captain)
12 – Kevin Maggs
(Ulster – Belfast Harlequins), 03/06/1974, 67 Caps
11 – Denis Hickie
(Leinster – St. Mary’s College), 13/02/76, 49 Caps
10 – Ronan O’Gara
(Munster – Cork Constitution), 07/03/77, 50 Caps
9 – Peter Stringer
(Munster – Shannon), 13/12/77, 54 Caps
1 – Reggie Corrigan
(Leinster – Greystones), 19/11/70, 42 Caps
2 – Shane Byrne
(Leinster – Blackrock College), 18/07/71, 36 Caps
3 – John Hayes
(Munster – Bruff), 02/11/73, 52 Caps
4 – Malcolm O’Kelly
(Leinster – St. Mary’s College), 19/07/74, 71 Caps
5 – Paul O’Connell
(Munster – Young Munster), 20/10/79, 27 Caps
6 – Simon Easterby
(Llanelli), 21/07/75, 40 Caps
7 – Johnny O’Connor
(Wasps), 09/02/80, 4 Caps
8 – Anthony Foley
(Munster – Shannon), 30/10/73, 60 Caps
Replacements:
16 – Frank Sheahan
(Munster – Cork Constitution), 27/08/76, 21 Caps
17 – Marcus Horan
(Munster – Shannon), 07/09/77, 26 Caps
18 – Donncha O’Callaghan
(Munster – Cork Constitution), 23/03/79, 15 Caps
19 – Eric Miller
(Leinster – Terenure College), 23/9/75, 44 Caps
20 – Guy Easterby
(Leinster – Blackrock College), 21/03/71, 28 Caps
21 – David Humphreys
(Ulster – Dungannon), 10/09/71, 66 Caps
22 – Gavin Duffy
(NEC Harlequins), 18/09/1981, 2 Caps
Not considered due to injury: Gordon D’Arcy (Leinster – Lansdowne) {Hamstring}, Denis Leamy (Munster – Cork Constitution) {Hamstring}, Shane Horgan (Leinster – Lansdowne) {Thumb}
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