No Change For Ireland

Ireland coach Eddie O’Sullivan has stuck with a winning formula by naming an unchanged side for Saturday’s RBS 6 Nations championship clash with Scotland (Murrayfield, kick-off 1.30pm).

The starting XV from the 43-13 win over England will line out again against the Scots this weekend as Ireland bid to make it three wins out of four in this year’s tournament.

The only change to the matchday 22 is the inclusion of Eoin Reddan, who has been named as the replacement scrum half due to the shoulder injury sustained by Isaac Boss.

The team will be captained by Brian O’Driscoll for the 36th time. The Leinster centre will equal the record for captaining Ireland at international level, which is held by Keith Wood.

The game will also mark a 73rd cap for both O’Driscoll and his Leinster team-mate Girvan Dempsey. This means they will overtake former Ireland and current Ulster out-half David Humphreys in the list of most capped players.

IRELAND TEAM AND REPLACEMENTS (v Scotland, RBS 6 Nations, Saturday, March 10, Murrayfield, Edinburgh, kick-off 1.30pm):

Player / Club / Caps

15 – Girvan Dempsey (Terenure College/Leinster) 72
14 – Shane Horgan (Lansdowne/Leinster) 53
13 – Brian O’Driscoll (Blackrock College/Leinster) 72 (capt)
12 – Gordon D’Arcy (Lansdowne/Leinster) 29
11 – Denis Hickie (St. Mary’s College/Leinster) 56
10 – Ronan O’Gara (Cork Constitution/Munster) 69
9 – Peter Stringer (Shannon/Munster) 74
1 – Marcus Horan (Shannon/Munster) 45
2 – Rory Best (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster) 10
3 – John Hayes (Bruff/Munster) 71
4 – Donncha O’Callaghan (Cork Constitution/Munster) 33
5 – Paul O’Connell (Young Munster/Munster) 42
6 – Simon Easterby (Llanelli) 55
7 – David Wallace (Garryowen/Munster) 35
8 – Denis Leamy (Cork Constitution/Munster) 20

Replacements:

16 – Jerry Flannery (Shannon/Munster) 12
17 – Simon Best (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster) 14
18 – Mick O’Driscoll (Cork Constitution/Munster) 6
19 – Neil Best (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster) 9
20 – Eoin Reddan (Wasps) 1
21 – Paddy Wallace (Ballymena/Ulster) 3
22 – Andrew Trimble (Ballymena/Ulster) 13

Not Considered Due To Injury:

Isaac Boss (Ballymena/Ulster) {shoulder}
Malcolm O’Kelly (St. Mary’s College/Leinster) {knee}