Beirne Included In Ireland Team To Face Wales

The Ireland coaching group have named the match day squad to face Wales in Cardiff on Saturday. Five Munster players start the clash with Tadhg Beirne coming into the side alongside Peter O’Mahony, CJ Stander, Conor Murray and Keith Earls. Niall Scannell and Dave Kilcoyne are among the replacements. Rory Best will lead the team out on his 64th and final 6 Nations appearance with Cian Healy and Tadgh Furlong packing down alongside him in the front row. Beirne and James Ryan are partnered in the second row with O’Mahony, Sean O’Brien and Stander named in the backrow. Murray and Johnny Sexton are named in the pivot positions with Garry Ringrose partnering Bundee Aki for a seventh occasion. Rob Kearney returns to the backfield and is joined by Earls and Jacob Stockdale who fill the wing berths. The replacements are Scannell, Kilcoyne, Andrew Porter, Quinn Roux, Jack Conan, Kieran Marmion, Jack Carty and Jordan Larmour.  Ireland Team & Replacements (v Wales, Guinness Six Nations Championship2019, Principality Stadium, Saturday 16 March, KO 2.45pm 15 Rob Kearney (UCD/Leinster) 89 caps 14 Keith Earls (Young Munster/Munster) 76 caps 13 Garry Ringrose (UCD/Leinster) 19 caps 12 Bundee Aki (Galwegians/Connacht) 16 caps 11 Jacob Stockdale (Lurgan/Ulster) 18 caps 10 Jonathan Sexton (St Mary's College/Leinster) 82 caps (vc) 9 Conor Murray (Garryowen/Munster) 71 caps 1 Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster) 87 caps 2 Rory Best (Banbridge/Ulster) 116 caps (c) 3 Tadhg Furlong (Clontarf/Leinster) 32 caps 4 Tadhg Beirne (Lansdowne/Munster) 4 caps 5 James Ryan (UCD/Leinster) 16 caps 6 Peter O’Mahony (Cork Constitution/Munster) 56 caps (vc) 7 Sean O’Brien (UCD/Leinster) 55 caps 8 CJ Stander (Shannon/Munster) 30 caps Replacements 16 Niall Scannell (Dolphin/Munster) 13 caps 17 Dave Kilcoyne (UL Bohemians/Munster) 28 caps 18 Andrew Porter (UCD/Leinster) 13 caps 19 Quinn Roux (Galwegians/Connacht) 11 caps 20 Jack Conan (Old Belvedere/Leinster) 13 caps 21 Kieran Marmion (Galwegians/Connacht) 24 caps 22 Jack Carty (Buccaneers/Connacht) 2 caps 23 Jordan Larmour (St Mary’s College/Leinster) 12 caps