Ireland have made seven changes to the side that faced Italy two weeks ago as they prepare to welcome France to the Aviva at 3pm on Sunday.
A host of players failed to impress last time out and head coach Joe Schmidt has not held back in wielding the axe on some underperforming stars.
Captain Rory Best returns in the front-row alongside props Cian Healy and Tadhg Furlong. While Ian Henderson comes in to partner up with James Ryan in the second-row.
The back-row sees a fit-again CJ Stander at No 8 with the ever-present Peter O’Mahony at six and Josh van der Flier at seven.
Schmidt will be hoping his changes in the pack will not only give Ireland fire-power going forward but reassure the line-out that struggled so much against the Italian’s last time out.
The half-back partnership is as expected with Conor Murray at scrum-half and Johnny Sexton at fly-half. However, the two will need much improved performances after coming under a huge amount of criticism since the visit to Rome.
Bundee Aki continues at inside centre but is joined by the returning Garry Ringrose at outside centre, who will look to provide Ireland with more attacking flare.
The back-three remains the same with Jacob Stockdale on the left wing, Keith Earls on the right and Rob Kearney will win his 90th Irish cap from full-back.
The bench has caused some rumbles with Ultan Dillane being named ahead of Tadhg Beirne, Jack Conan pipping Sean O’Brien, and John Cooney retaining his place despite Kieran Marmion’s return to fitness.
The worry for O’Brien is that Dan Leavy, Rhys Ruddock and Jordi Murphy are all vying for a place on the team in the back-row and will be remaining in Ireland post-World Cup unlike O’Brien who will be heading overseas to London Irish. Could this be the beginning of the end of O’Brien’s outstanding time in green?
The other players on the bench are Niall Scannell, who beats Sean Cronin, who himself was dropped from the overall 37-man squad. Scannell is joined by fellow Munster front-rowers Dave Kilcoyne and John Ryan in the reserves.
Connacht’s Jack Carty and Leinster’s Jordan Larmour make up the 23.
Here’s the Ireland team to play France on Sunday.#TeamOfUs #IREvFRA #ShoulderToShoulder pic.twitter.com/KTzjMrC0iM
— Irish Rugby (@IrishRugby) March 8, 2025
Speaking ahead of the game Schmidt told the media about his joy at having some key men back and explained Conan’s inclusion on the bench.
“It’s great to have CJ back, James Ryan, Rory Best, those guys who have been rested from the last game. Jack Conan was initially due to start against Scotland, so we also wanted to give him an opportunity to get a foot in the door and demonstrate what he can do off the bench,â€? he said.
The French, who named their team on Tuesday,
have stuck with the 23 that saw off Scotland during an impressive win in round
3.
That means that it’s Jefferson Poirot,
captain Guilhem Guirado and Demba Bamba in the front-row, with Felix Lamby and
Sebastien Vahaamhina behind them.
Wenceslas Lauret, Arthur Irturria and Louis
Picamoles make up the pack.
Young-guns Antoine Dupont and Romain
Ntamack continue their half-back pairing with Gael Fickou and Mathieu
Bastareaud in the centre.
Yoann Huget and Damian Penaud are on the
wings, as Thomas Ramos remains at 15 in the unchanged team.
Camille Chat, Baptiste Serin and Maxime
Medard are among the replacements ensuring that Ireland will have to be at
their best to pull out a win against Les Blues.
As mentioned above the French will be
looking to push on from their win over the Scots. That mean Ireland will have
to be at their best to stop the men in the blue from causing an upset at the
Aviva on Sunday and to keep their championship hopes alive.
