Ireland vs England team news: Robbie Henshaw starts at full-back as Joe Schmidt makes surprise selection

Bundee Aki starts at inside centre with Garry Ringrose outside him as Henshaw is squeezed in at full-back, with no space for fit-again regular Rob Kearney

Jack de Menezes
Thursday 31 January 2019 09:36 EST
Comments
Six Nations preview: Ireland in profile

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Ireland have named regular centre Robbie Henshaw at full-back for the team to play England this Saturday in their Six Nations opener in Dublin.

The 25-year-old has been selected ahead of two-time Grand Slam winner Rob Kearney, who misses out on the matchday squad altogether as Jordan Larmour is preferred among the replacements, and while he made his debut at full-back in 2013, he has played the rest of his 36 caps at centre.

It is a bold call from Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt in what will be his final Six Nations campaign before leaving the side after this year’s Rugby World Cup, with Henshaw only just returning from a long-term hamstring injury in January.

But the Leinster centre has impressed since making his return, and with club teammate Kearney missing last week’s training camp in Portugal in order to gain match fitness with Leinster after suffering a quad injury in November, Schmidt has put his faith in Henshaw to cope with an England side looking to test out Ireland “aerially”, as Eddie Jones warned this week.

"Robbie trained last week and a bit in November at full-back," said Schmidt.

"He actually trained there a bit in Australia in the summer too. It's been an option for us for quite some time.

"Rob (Kearney) ran out of time a little bit, and we like the flexibility of Jordan Larmour on the bench covering a number of positions. It's one of those things that we've seen as an option for quite some time.

"So it's probably not as much of a surprise to Robbie or the team as it is to other people."

It means that Bundee Aki continues his centre pairing with Garry Ringrose while Jacob Stockdale and Keith Earls are named on the wings, with the former looking to add to his impressive record of 12 tries in 14 international Tests.

Johnny Sexton and Conor Murray are reunited at half-back after the latter missed the autumn internationals with a mystery neck injury, while the pack is the exact same one that helped beat New Zealand in November with Josh van der Flier at openside flanker, meaning Sean O’Brien can only return to the replacements.

Robbie Henshaw will start at full-back for Ireland against England in the Six Nations
Robbie Henshaw will start at full-back for Ireland against England in the Six Nations (PA)

With no Tadhg Beirne or Iain Henderson available due to injury, Connacht lock Quinn Roux is selected in the bench along with Leinster forwards Sean Cronin, Andrew Porter and O’Brien, with Munster loosehead prop Dave Kilcoyne making up the pack options, while Larmour is joined by Munster fly-half Joey Carbery and Connacht scrum-half John Cooney as support for the backs.

Ireland team to face England

Robbie Henshaw; Keith Earls, Garry Ringrose, Bundee Aki, Jacob Stockdale; Johnny Sexton, Conor Murray; Cian Healy, Rory Best, Tadhg Furlong; Devin Toner, James Ryan; Peter O’Mahony, Josh van der Flier, CJ Stander.

Replacements: Sean Cronin, Dave Kilcoyne, Andrew Porter, Quinn Roux, Sean O’Brien, John Cooney, Joey Carbery, Jordan Larmour.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in