Five Munster men named in XV for Ireland’s final RWC warm-up clash

Munster’s Keith Earls, Conor Murray, Jean Kleyn, CJ Stander will start for Ireland against Wales on Saturday at the Aviva Stadium with Dave Kilcoyne among the replacements.

Ireland captain Rory Best will win his 120th cap on his last appearance in the Aviva Stadium with the game also marking the final match for Joe Schmidt on Irish soil.

Best leads a much changed Ireland team against Wales in the final Guinness Series test match of the summer.

Cian Healy and Tadhg Furlong join the Ireland captain in the front row with James Ryan and Kleyn packing down in the second row.

Jack Conan starts at No. 8 with Stander coming into the backrow at 6 and Josh van der Flier named at 7.

Jonathan Sexton makes his seasonal debut and is joined in the half backs by Murray. Bundee Aki starts at 12 with Robbie Henshaw coming in at 13.

Earls is also back, on the left wing with Jordan Larmour on the right and Rob Kearney at full-back.

Sean Cronin is in line to win his 70th cap as he is named in the replacements. He is joined by Kilcoyne, Andrew Porter, Iain Henderson and Rhys Ruddock as the forward cover. Luke McGrath, Jack Carty and Garry Ringrose are the replacement backs.

Ireland Team & Replacements (v Wales, Saturday at 2pm)

Player/Club/Province/Caps

15 Rob Kearney (UCD/Leinster) 91 caps

14 Jordan Larmour (St Mary’s College/Leinster) 15 caps

13 Robbie Henshaw (Buccaneers/Leinster) 37 caps

12 Bundee Aki (Galwegians/Connacht) 19 caps

11 Keith Earls (Young Munster/Munster) 77 caps

10 Jonathan Sexton (St Marys College/Leinster) 83 caps

9 Conor Murray (Garryowen/Munster) 73 caps

1 Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster) 90 caps

2 Rory Best (Banbridge/Ulster) 119 caps CAPTAIN

3 Tadhg Furlong (Clontarf/Leinster) 35 caps

4 James Ryan (UCD/Leinster) 18 caps

5 Jean Kleyn (Munster) 2 caps

6 CJ Stander (Shannon/Munster) 32 caps

7 Josh van der Flier (UCD/Leinster) 18 caps

8 Jack Conan (Old Belvedere/Leinster) 15 caps

Replacements

16 Sean Cronin (St Mary’s College/Leinster) 69 caps

17 Dave Kilcoyne (UL Bohemians/Munster) 30 caps

18 Andrew Porter (UCD/Leinster) 17 caps

19 Iain Henderson (Queens University/Ulster) 47 caps

20 Rhys Ruddock (St Mary’s College/Leinster) 22

21 Luke McGrath (UCD/Leinster) 13 caps

22 Jack Carty (Buccaneers/Connacht) 6 caps

23 Garry Ringrose (UCD/Leinster) 23 caps

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Wales have also named a strong side for this weekend’s clash.

Wales team to face Ireland.

15. Leigh Halfpenny
14. George North
13. Jonathan Davies
12. Hadleigh Parkes
11. Josh Adams
10. Rhys Patchell
9. Tomos Williams

1. Wyn Jones
2. Elliot Dee
3. Tomas Francis
4. Jake Ball
5. Alun Wyn Jones (captain)
6. Aaron Wainwright
7. Justin Tipuric
8. Ross Moriarty

Replacements:

16. Ken Owens
17. Nicky Smith
18. Dillon Lewis
19. Adam Beard
20. Josh Navidi
21. Gareth Davies
22. Dan Biggar
23. Liam Williams