Murray, Beirne and O’Mahony retained from the start as Ireland name team for France

Conor Murray was a last-minute replacement for Jamison Gibson Park last week and the Limerick native retains his place for Saturday.

The Ireland coaching team have named the Match Day Squad to take on France at a packed Aviva Stadium on Saturday in the second round of the 2023 Guinness Six Nations Championship (Kick-off 2.15pm).

Munster have five players in the squad for the second successive week. Conor Murray, Tadhg Beirne and Peter O’Mahony are named from the start with Dave Kilcoyne and Craig Casey among the replacements.

Ireland captain Johnny Sexton and Murray will line out for Ireland at half-back with Stuart McCloskey and Garry Ringrose continuing their partnership in midfield.

The back three of Hugo Keenan at fullback and Mack Hansen and James Lowe on the wings is unchanged from Round 1 of the Championship.

Andrew Porter and Finlay Bealham will pack down either side of Rob Herring who replaces Dan Sheehan with Beirne and James Ryan in the second row. 

Caelan Doris, Josh van der Flier and O’Mahony continue as the backrow unit.

The replacements include Ronan Kelleher, Kilcoyne, Tom O’Toole, Iain Henderson, Jack Conan, Casey, Ross Byrne and Bundee Aki.

Porter, Ryan and Kilcoyne are set to earn their 50th caps for Ireland against France at the weekend. Both Porter and Ryan made their international debuts against the USA in New Jersey in June 2017, while Kilcoyne made his debut against South Africa in November 2012.

The Ireland v France match will be broadcast live on RTE and ITV television and on RTE and BBC NI radio.

IRELAND team to play France – Rd 2, 2023 Guinness Six Nations Championship,
Aviva Stadium, Dublin, Saturday 11^th February, 2023, KO 14.15 (IST)

15. Hugo Keenan (Leinster/UCD) 26 caps
14. Mack Hansen (Connacht/Corinthians) 10 caps
13. Garry Ringrose (Leinster/UCD) 48 caps
12. Stuart McCloskey (Ulster/Bangor) 10 caps
11. James Lowe (Leinster) 16 caps
10. Johnny Sexton (Leinster/St Mary’s College) 110 caps (c)
9. Conor Murray (Munster/Garryowen) 101 caps

1. Andrew Porter (Leinster/UCD) 49 caps
2. Rob Herring (Ulster/Ballynahinch) 32 caps
3. Finlay Bealham (Connacht/Buccaneers) 28 caps
4. Tadhg Beirne (Munster/Lansdowne) 37 caps
5. James Ryan (Leinster/UCD) 49 caps
6. Peter O’Mahony (Munster/Cork Constitution) 90 caps
7. Josh van der Flier (Leinster/UCD) 46 caps
8. Caelan Doris (Leinster/St Mary’s College) 24 caps

Replacements:

16. Ronan Kelleher (Leinster/Lansdowne) 18 caps
17. Dave Kilcoyne (Munster/UL Bohemians) 49 caps
18. Tom O’Toole (Ulster/Ballynahinch) 5 caps
19. Iain Henderson (Ulster/Academy) 69 caps
20. Jack Conan (Leinster/Old Belvedere) 34 caps
21. Craig Casey (Munster/Shannon) 8 caps
22. Ross Byrne (Leinster/UCD) 15 caps
23. Bundee Aki (Connacht/Galwegians) 42 caps