Ireland head coach Andy Farrell has announced his 23-man squad to take on England in their key Six Nations clash at Twickenham on Sunday at 15 00.
Farrell has stuck with the same starting line-up that overcame Wales in round two as the boys in green look to seal a Triple Crown and continue their hopes of a Grand Slam.
That means in the front-row it’s Cian Healy and Tadhg Furlong either side of hooker Rob Herring, as Iain Henderson and James Ryan link-up once again in the second-row.
Peter O’Mahony retains his spot at blindside-flanker following an impressive performance last time out, with Josh van der Flier on the openside and CJ Stander remains at No 8.
Conor Murray and captain Johnny Sexton continue as the half-back pairing, and they have Bundee Aki and Robbie Henshaw outside them in the centre, with the latter coming through head injury protocols to start.
Jacob Stockdale is again used on the left-wing, with Andrew Conway on the right and Jordan Larmour will look to continue his impressive form from full-back.
Farrell has made only one change to the bench with Caelan Doris replacing Max Deegan, while the likes of Ronan Kelleher, Devin Toner and Keith Earls are available for the head coach to call upon if needed.
Speaking on the decision to name the same starting XV Farrell admitted he was happy last time out and is looking to build some consistency.
“We had a decent performance last time out. There’s a few things we needed to fix and a few boys went back and gave us a few headaches, but we decided to go with a similar selection for a little bit of continuity and see if we can build on what we did the last time around and see if we can get a better performance on the back of it,” he said.
Ireland head into the game with two wins from two after an impressive start to the campaign, while England will be looking to put themselves firmly in contention for the title with a win over their rivals which makes the game almost impossible to call as we head towards Sunday.
Check Out the Full 23-Man Squad Below.
Starting XV:
15. Jordan Larmour (St Mary’s College/Leinster) 23 caps
14. Andrew Conway (Garryowen/Munster) 20 caps
13. Robbie Henshaw (Buccaneers/Leinster) 42 caps
12. Bundee Aki (Galwegians/Connacht) 25 caps
11. Jacob Stockdale (Lurgan/Ulster) 27 caps
10. Jonathan Sexton (St Marys College/Leinster) 90 caps CAPTAIN
9. Conor Murray (Garryowen/Munster) 80 caps
1. Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster) 97 caps
2. Rob Herring (Ballynahinch/Ulster) 10 caps
3. Tadhg Furlong (Clontarf/Leinster) 43 caps
4. Iain Henderson (Academy/Ulster) 55 caps
5. James Ryan (UCD/Leinster) 25 caps
6. Peter O’Mahony (Cork Constitution/Munster) 66 caps
7. Josh van der Flier (UCD/Leinster) 25 caps
8. CJ Stander (Shannon/Munster) 40 caps
Replacements:
16. Ronan Kelleher (Lansdowne/Leinster) 2 caps
17. Dave Kilcoyne (UL Bohemians/Munster) 38 caps
18. Andrew Porter (UCD/Leinster) 25 caps
19. Devin Toner (Lansdowne/Leinster) 69 caps
20. Caelan Doris (St Mary’s College/Leinster) 1 cap
21. John Cooney (Terenure College/Ulster) 10 caps
22. Ross Byrne (UCD/Leinster) 5 caps
23. Keith Earls (Young Munster/Munster) 83 caps
