Ireland’s fourth and final Rugby World Cup warm-up game takes them to Twickenham where they will look to get back to winning ways against a strong England side.
RUGBY WORLD CUP WARM-UP TEST: Saturday, September 5
ENGLAND v IRELAND, Twickenham, 2.30pm (live Sky Sports 1/RTÉ Radio 1/IRFU Live Blog/highlights RTÉ Two (7.30pm))
Team News: The Ireland team to play England shows seven personnel changes from the 16-10 defeat to Wales, with Simon Zebo, Tommy Bowe and Jared Payne returning to the back-line and Rory Best, Mike Ross, Devin Toner and Sean O’Brien all restored up front.
Paul O’Connell captains his country for the 25th time and is partnered in the second row by Toner. The back row is made up of number 8 Jamie Heaslip, who wins his 75th cap, Peter O’Mahony on the blindside and O’Brien at openside. Jack McGrath is joined by Best and Ross in the front row.
Conor Murray and Jonathan Sexton are retained at half-back with Robbie Henshaw and Payne reunited in midfield for the first time this season. The back-three is made up of Zebo at full-back and Bowe and Dave Kearney on the wings.
The replacements are Richardt Strauss, recent debutants Tadhg Furlong and Nathan White, Donnacha Ryan, Chris Henry, Eoin Reddan, Ian Madigan and Darren Cave.
Speaking about the selection of the back-three, head coach Joe Schmidt said: “We just felt it was important to get Simon a little bit more time at full-back once we decided he was going to cover full-back for us. Rob Kearney has a bruise on his knee but he trained fully and we could have picked him.
“We wanted to give Simon another run at full-back, and Dave Kearney and Tommy Bowe again on the wings. We thought about putting maybe Luke (Fitzgerald) or Rob on the bench, but Darren Cave is the other guy who has had the least amount of game-time so it was good to get Darren into the group as well.
“Because with Jared and Robbie, we can always drop someone else back to full-back, they’ve slotted in pretty seamlessly in amongst it at training this week.”
Meanwhile, Saracens centre Brad Barritt returns to the England starting line-up for the visit of Ireland to London. His last Test appearance came in a 26-17 victory over Australia in November of last year before injury ruled him out of the ensuing RBS 6 Nations.
He replaces Luther Burrell as Jonathan Joseph’s midfield partner in one of five changes to Stuart Lancaster’s team from the 25-20 loss to France in Paris two weeks ago.
Elsewhere, Anthony Watson returns to the right wing in place of Jack Nowell, while Geoff Parling, Tom Wood and Gloucester’s Ben Morgan come in for Joe Launchbury, James Haskell and Billy Vunipola respectively in the pack.
Owen Farrell joins Bath’s Sam Burgess and fellow Saracen Richard Wigglesworth as back-line options on the replacements bench, with Northampton Saints prop Kieran Brookes also looking to make an impact.
ENGLAND: Mike Brown (Harlequins); Anthony Watson (Bath), Jonathan Joseph (Bath), Brad Barritt (Saracens), Jonny May (Gloucester); George Ford (Bath), Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers); Joe Marler (Harlequins), Tom Youngs (Leicester Tigers), Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers), Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints), Geoff Parling (Exeter Chiefs), Tom Wood (Northampton Saints), Chris Robshaw (Harlequins) (capt), Ben Morgan (Gloucester).
Replacements: Jamie George (Saracens), Mako Vunipola (Saracens), Kieran Brookes (Northampton Saints), Joe Launchbury (Wasps), Billy Vunipola (Saracens), Richard Wigglesworth (Saracens), Owen Farrell (Saracens), Sam Burgess (Bath).
IRELAND: Simon Zebo (Cork Constitution/Munster); Tommy Bowe (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster), Jared Payne (Ulster), Robbie Henshaw (Buccaneers/Connacht), Dave Kearney (Lansdowne/Leinster); Jonathan Sexton (St. Mary’s College/Leinster), Conor Murray (Garryowen/Munster); Jack McGrath (St. Mary’s College/Leinster), Rory Best (Banbridge/Ulster), Mike Ross (Clontarf/Leinster), Devin Toner (Lansdowne/Leinster), Paul O’Connell (Young Munster) (capt), Peter O’Mahony (Cork Constitution/Munster), Sean O’Brien (UCD/Leinster), Jamie Heaslip (Dublin University/Leinster).
Replacements: Richardt Strauss (Old Wesley/Leinster), Tadhg Furlong (Clontarf/Leinster), Nathan White (Connacht), Donnacha Ryan (Shannon/Munster), Chris Henry (Malone/Ulster), Eoin Reddan (Old Crescent/Leinster), Ian Madigan (Blackrock College/Leinster), Darren Cave (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster).
Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)
Assistant Referees: Romaine Poite (France), Leighton Hodges (Wales)
Television Match Official: Shaun Veldsman (South Africa)
Match Odds (Paddy Power): England to win: 4/9; Draw: 18/1; Ireland to win: 15/8
Pre-Match Quotes: Joe Schmidt (Ireland) – “There’s a premium on performance, on getting individuals ready. You always want to get the result – these players are too competitive not to want to get the result.
“But if we didn’t get the result and there were a few building blocks put in place, a few things we did a little bit better than last week, we’d come away feeling there’s work to be done but we’re keen to get working again and build our way through the World Cup.
“We’ve got to hit the ground running against Canada, but we’ve got to build game to game because I don’t think anyone’s kidding themselves that the game at the end of the pool is going to be tougher, based on where they’re ranked and what they (France) have done in preparation for this World Cup, and what they’ve done in previous World Cups.
“Jonathan Joseph was saying in the week that they will be a really good (centre) combination because (Brad) Barritt’s the direct strongman and he’ll use footwork and acceleration. I think if you slotted Sam Burgess in there you could say he’s the direct powerhouse and that Joseph still has the footwork.
“Where Joseph’s got the footwork I think (Henry) Slade has got class, his ability to distribute. He’s still got a good change-up to carry but he’s got good kicking skills as well, so they can vary up their midfield as they need to. I’m just happy they are not in our pool (for the World Cup).”
Geoff Parling (England) – “Now that we’re in September it feels like the start of the World Cup in a way. We know that we under-performed last time out. We’ve got to do a lot of things better because it’s going to be a big battle at the weekend.
“As we know, Ireland are a quality team with experienced internationals throughout. You have to pay respect to any team you play, especially someone like that, but the main focus has got to be on us and what we do.
“What comes after this is massive so we know how important every single game is. You can sense that everyone is knuckling down and getting excited about Saturday. Everyone wants to be in the starting 15. Nobody will be happy now even with a bench place. But it’s all about how the team does. If you play and the team does well, that’s good for you personally as well.
“Everyone is contributing. The guys not involved this weekend are contributing a great deal in training. We all focus on Ireland and then we group and go again to Fiji and on from there.”
Pre-Match Links –
Ireland Squad Named For Rugby World Cup
Players Picked Are ‘All Quality Contributors’ – Schmidt
Head-To-Head: Ireland v England
In Pics: Ireland Training At Carton House
Recent Meetings –
2013: RBS 6 Nations: Ireland 6 England 12, Aviva Stadium
2014: RBS 6 Nations: England 13 Ireland 10, Twickenham
2015: RBS 6 Nations: Ireland 19 England 9, Aviva Stadium
Support Ireland on www.irishrugby.ie/facebook or search #ShouldertoShoulder or #ENGvIRE on www.twitter.com/irishrugby.
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