Ireland Team To Play Australia

Chris Henry, the Ulster back rower, is one of four players, including Paddy Wallace, Jonathan Sexton and Niall Ronan, who have been retained in the starting line-up from Ireland’s last game against New Zealand Maori.

Rob Kearney, Tommy Bowe, Andrew Trimble, Tomas O’Leary and team captain Brian O’Driscoll return to the back-line for Ireland’s final match of their summer tour, against Australia at Suncorp Stadium.

In the forwards, Mick O’Driscoll will partner his Munster colleague Donncha O’Callaghan in the second row after recovering from a back injury.

Cian Healy, Sean Cronin and Tony Buckley form the front row, as they did in the recent Test against the All Blacks.

Teenage flanker Rhys Ruddock and hooker Damien Varley, who have been named among the replacements, are the other uncapped players in the matchday 22.

Dan Tuohy, a Test debutant against New Zealand, and Ronan O’Gara, who stands on 99 Ireland caps, have also been included on the bench.

A calf injury hampered hooker Jerry Flannery’s bid to make the Test selection, while flanker David Wallace has flown home to be with his wife Aileen for the birth of their second child.

Commenting on the selections at out-half and inside centre, head coach Declan Kidney said: “(Choosing the number 10) was the same as it was for a number of positions. We’ve got a few players looking for places now.

“We felt it was an opportunity to give Jonathan this run, he’s been playing well so I just decided to go with him this time.

“We’ve been trying to develop our squad. Paddy got the opportunity in the second half of the Barbarians match after having been out for a few weeks.

“He sat out the New Zealand match, and then played well against the Maori, so it’s really more a case of giving Paddy a go because I feel he deserves it.”

IRELAND TEAM & REPLACEMENTS (v Australia, Summer Tour Match, Suncorp Stadium, Saturday, June 26, kick-off 8.05pm local time/11.05am Irish time):

15 – Rob Kearney (UCD/Leinster)
14 – Tommy Bowe (Ospreys)
13 – Brian O’Driscoll (UCD/Leinster) (capt)
12 – Paddy Wallace (Ballymena/Ulster)
11 – Andrew Trimble (Ballymena/Ulster)
10 – Jonathan Sexton (St. Mary’s College/Leinster)
9 – Tomas O’Leary (Dolphin/Munster)
1 – Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster)
2 – Sean Cronin (Buccaneers/Connacht)
3 – Tony Buckley (Shannon/Munster)
4 – Donncha O’Callaghan (Cork Constitution/Munster)
5 – Mick O’Driscoll (Cork Constitution/Munster)
6 – Niall Ronan (Shannon/Munster)
7 – Shane Jennings (St. Mary’s College/Leinster)
8 – Chris Henry (Ballymena/Ulster) *

Replacements:

16 – Damien Varley (Garryowen/Munster) *
17 – Tom Court (Malone/Ulster)
18 – Dan Tuohy (Ballymena/Ulster)
19 – Rhys Ruddock (UCD/Leinster) *
20 – Eoin Reddan (Lansdowne/Leinster)
21 – Ronan O’Gara (Cork Constitution/Munster)
22 – Geordan Murphy (Leicester Tigers)

* Denotes uncapped player