Five Munster Men Named In Ireland Squad For Final Warm-Up
5th September 2019 By The Editor
Keith Earls and Conor Murray start for Ireland on Saturday.
Munster’s Keith Earls, Conor Murray, Jean Kleyn, CJ Stander will start for Ireland against Wales on Saturday at the Aviva Stadium with Dave Kilcoyne among the replacements.
Ireland captain Rory Best will win his 120th cap on his last appearance in the Aviva Stadium with the game also marking the final match for Joe Schmidt on Irish soil.
Best leads a much changed Ireland team against Wales in the final Guinness Series test match of the summer.
Cian Healy and Tadhg Furlong join the Ireland captain in the front row with James Ryan and Kleyn packing down in the second row.
Jack Conan starts at No. 8 with Stander coming into the backrow at 6 and Josh van der Flier named at 7.
Jonathan Sexton makes his seasonal debut and is joined in the half backs by Murray. Bundee Aki starts at 12 with Robbie Henshaw coming in at 13.
Earls is also back, on the left wing with Jordan Larmour on the right and Rob Kearney at full-back.
Sean Cronin is in line to win his 70th cap as he is named in the replacements. He is joined by Kilcoyne, Andrew Porter, Iain Henderson and Rhys Ruddock as the forward cover. Luke McGrath, Jack Carty and Garry Ringrose are the replacement backs.
Ireland Team & Replacements (v Wales, Saturday at 2pm)
Player/Club/Province/Caps
15 Rob Kearney (UCD/Leinster) 91 caps
14 Jordan Larmour (St Mary’s College/Leinster) 15 caps
13 Robbie Henshaw (Buccaneers/Leinster) 37 caps
12 Bundee Aki (Galwegians/Connacht) 19 caps
11 Keith Earls (Young Munster/Munster) 77 caps
10 Jonathan Sexton (St Marys College/Leinster) 83 caps
9 Conor Murray (Garryowen/Munster) 73 caps
1 Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster) 90 caps
2 Rory Best (Banbridge/Ulster) 119 caps CAPTAIN
3 Tadhg Furlong (Clontarf/Leinster) 35 caps
4 James Ryan (UCD/Leinster) 18 caps
5 Jean Kleyn (Munster) 2 caps
6 CJ Stander (Shannon/Munster) 32 caps
7 Josh van der Flier (UCD/Leinster) 18 caps
8 Jack Conan (Old Belvedere/Leinster) 15 caps
Replacements
16 Sean Cronin (St Mary’s College/Leinster) 69 caps
17 Dave Kilcoyne (UL Bohemians/Munster) 30 caps
18 Andrew Porter (UCD/Leinster) 17 caps
19 Iain Henderson (Queens University/Ulster) 47 caps
20 Rhys Ruddock (St Mary’s College/Leinster) 22
21 Luke McGrath (UCD/Leinster) 13 caps
22 Jack Carty (Buccaneers/Connacht) 6 caps
23 Garry Ringrose (UCD/Leinster) 23 caps