Van Der Flier To Start As Leavy Ruled Out

Ireland flanker Dan Leavy has been ruled out of Saturday’s GUINNESS Series showdown with New Zealand at the Aviva Stadium (kick-off 7pm). Josh van der Flier will start in his place, winning his 12th cap.

Dan Leavy sat out training on Thursday and also missed the Captain’s Run today, with a ‘general tightness’ cited as the reason he is ruled out. Josh van der Flier, who lined out against Italy a fortnight ago, will start in the number 7 jersey with Ulster’s Jordi Murphy added to the bench.

Speaking after the Captain’s Run, Rory Best said: “It is something we had to deal with last week when Robbie (Henshaw) injured his hamstring in the warm-up, and in March 2017 against England we had to deal with it last minute with Jamie Heaslip.

“Actually, Dan was the one who came onto the bench and came on quite early in that game. Josh trained yesterday, they all slot in the back row anyway. Josh, even on the bench, knows his role inside out. You are replacing a quality player with two more quality players.”

IRELAND Team & Replacements (v New Zealand, 2018 GUINNESS Series Test Match, Aviva Stadium, Saturday, November 17, kick-off 7pm):

Player/Club/Province/Caps –

15. Rob Kearney (UCD/Leinster) 86
14. Keith Earls (Young Munster/Munster) 71
13. Garry Ringrose (UCD/Leinster) 15
12. Bundee Aki (Galwegians/Connacht) 11
11. Jacob Stockdale (Ballynahinch/Ulster) 13
10. Jonathan Sexton (St. Mary’s College/Leinster) (vice-capt) 77
9. Kieran Marmion (Corinthians/Connacht) 23
1. Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster) 82
2. Rory Best (Banbridge/Ulster) (capt) 112
3. Tadhg Furlong (Clontarf/Leinster) 27
4. Devin Toner (Lansdowne/Leinster) 62
5. James Ryan (UCD/Leinster) 12
6. Peter O’Mahony (Cork Constitution/Munster) (vice-capt) 51
7. Josh van der Flier (UCD/Leinster) 11
8. CJ Stander (Shannon/Munster) 27

Replacements:

16. Sean Cronin (St. Mary’s College/Leinster) 64
17. Jack McGrath (St. Mary’s College/Leinster) 52
18. Andrew Porter (UCD/Leinster) 10
19. Iain Henderson (Queen’s University/Ulster) 40
20. Jordi Murphy (Ulster) 24
21. Luke McGrath (UCD/Leinster) 8
22. Joey Carbery (Clontarf/Munster) 14
23. Jordan Larmour (St. Mary’s College/Leinster) 8