Four Munster men start in Six Nations opener with France

Five Munster men start for Ireland in their Six Nations opener with France in Paris this Saturday. Keith Earls and Conor Murray take their place in the backline with Peter O’Mahony and CJ Stander in the backrow, frontrow John Ryan is included amongst the replacements.

Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt has included three 6 Nations debutants – Jacob Stockdale, Bundee Aki and James Ryan.

Rory Best captains his country for the 22nd time.

Speaking about the team selection, Joe Schmidt said: “We felt James (Ryan) went really well recently against Montpelier who are a big side, and we’re really looking forward to seeing what he delivers on Saturday.

“We want to be able to keep building in that position (of second row), it’s a position we probably don’t have huge depth in. We’ve got a few young guys pushing through that we’ve given opportunities to and James is obviously one of those.

“(Bundee and Jacob) are really excited too about getting the opportunity to play in the Six Nations. I don’t think there’s a better place to be than in between Johnny Sexton and Robbie Henshaw if you’re making your debut in the Six Nations.”

“And having Keith and Rob working with him in that back-three triangle, I think it’s a great position for Jacob to be in as well. That’s kinda part of the balance. A lot of people speak in terms of World Cups and sacrificing opportunity or risking results in the Six Nations – I don’t think they’re mutually exclusive. I think you can be working as hard as you can in the Six Nations and still that’s good preparation for whatever comes next year or beyond.”

He added: “I had a good chat with Jordan (Larmour), he was very close to making the replacements bench. It’s a really competitive area for us. The back-three, we’ve gone for a mix of youth and experience in Jacob, Keith and Rob, and I think that’s probably a pretty good balance for us. We also have the experience of Fergus McFadden who is also a pretty accomplished goal-kicker too.

“Andrew Conway is managing a knee that was a little bit inflamed, for a period of time. It looked like it was going to be okay. He’s probably going to be out for this week and next week as a result of that. It’s certainly nothing serious, we just need to let it settle down and he’ll springboard back into things.”

IRELAND Team & Replacements (v France, 2018 NatWest 6 Nations Championship, Stade de France, Saturday, February 3, kick-off 5.45pm local time/4.45pm Irish time):

Player/Club/Province/Caps –

15. Rob Kearney (UCD/Leinster) 78
14. Keith Earls (Young Munster/Munster) 62
13. Robbie Henshaw (Buccaneers/Leinster) 31
12. Bundee Aki (Galwegians/Connacht) 2
11. Jacob Stockdale (Ballynahinch/Ulster) 4
10. Jonathan Sexton (St. Mary’s College/Leinster) 68
9. Conor Murray (Garryowen/Munster) 59
1. Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster) 73
2. Rory Best (Banbridge/Ulster) (capt) 106
3. Tadhg Furlong (Clontarf/Leinster) 19
4. Iain Henderson (Ballynahinch/Ulster) 34
5. James Ryan (UCD/Leinster) 4
6. Peter O’Mahony (Cork Constitution/Munster) 42
7. Josh van der Flier (UCD/Leinster) 9
8. CJ Stander (Shannon/Munster) 18

Replacements:

16. Sean Cronin (St. Mary’s College/Leinster) 56
17. Jack McGrath (St. Mary’s College/Leinster) 42
18. John Ryan (Cork Constitution/Munster) 11
19. Devin Toner (Lansdowne/Leinster) 53
20. Dan Leavy (UCD/Leinster) 4
21. Luke McGrath (UCD/Leinster) 6
22. Joey Carbery (Clontarf/Leinster) 6
23. Fergus McFadden (Old Belvedere/Leinster) 32