Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt has confirmed his 23-man squad for Ireland’s crunch Rugby World Cup quarter-final against the All Blacks this Saturday in Japan.
As expected Robbie Henshaw has moved to the inside-centre position with Garry Ringrose coming into the outside-centre role following Bundee Aki’s red card last weekend against Samoa.
Elsewhere Tadhg Beirne has dropped to the bench in place of fellow Munster teammate Peter O’Mahony, while Jordan Larmour joins Beirne among the replacements with Rob Kearney being given the nod at full-back.
That means that there is the familiar front-row of Cian Healy, captain Rory Best and Tadhg Furlong, with Iain Henderson and James Ryan teaming up once again in the second-row.
O’Mahony comes into the blindside flanker position, with Josh van der Flier on the openside and CJ Stander completes the pack from No 8.
Conor Murray links-up with Johnny Sexton in the half-backs as they become Ireland’s most capped half-back duo with 56 caps together, overtaking Ronan O’Gara and Peter Stringers’ previous record tally. While it’s Henshaw and Ringrose in the midfield as mentioned above.
Jacob Stockdale has been selected on the left-wing and will be hoping for a similar performance to the one he put in the last time the two teams met last November, where he scored a wonderful individual try. Keith Earls takes the right-wing position with Kearney at full-back.
There is plenty of power and skill to call upon from the bench with the likes of Rhys Ruddock and Joey Carbery among the replacements should Schmidt need them.
Speaking ahead of the game Ireland forwards coach Simon Easterby has acknowledged the threat that the All Blacks possess and has knows his team will need to be at their best to stand any chance of progressing to the semi-finals.
“They have so many threats across the park. They are a team that ensure you can’t switch off for a minute. They have enough ball players to play certain styles but they also have the ability to play a set-piece game and muscle up. In our phase attack, we have to look after the ball and make sure we don’t give them any soft turnover opportunities. Without the ball, we need to be on the money and our set-piece has to stand up. It’s going to be a real challenge for us as a forward pack. Whether it was in Chicago or the last couple of times, the game is certainly set there in terms of tone. Both teams will be looking to do that and the rest of your game can thrive off the foundation you set up front,” he said.
Many have already written off Ireland’s chances against the reigning back to back World Cup champions, however, unlike in the last World Cup Ireland head into their last-eight clash with a fully-fit squad as well as having the motivation of making it to a first ever semi-final.
Ireland will hope that they can continue their tournament past this weekend but should they fail to progress this would be captain Best’s and manager Schmidt’s final game with the country as they are set to depart following the conclusion of Ireland’s campaign.
Check Out the Full 23-Man Squad Below.
Starting XV:
Rob Kearney, Keith Earls, Gary Ringrose, Robbie Henshaw, Jacob Stockdale, Johnny Sexton, Conor Murray, CJ Stander, Josh van der Flier, Peter O’Mahony, James Ryan, Iain Henderson, Tadhg Furlong, Rory Best (c), Cian Healy
Replacements:
Niall Scannell, Dave Kilcoyne, Andrew Porter, Tadhg Beirne, Rhys Ruddock, Luke McGrath, Joey Carberry, Jordan Larmour
