Joe Schmidt has named his Ireland side to take on South Africa this weekend at the Aviva Stadium, with the big shock coming in the centres where Robbie Henshaw and Jared Payne line up, meaning no space for Gordon D’Arcy.
Sean Cronin starts at hooker in the absence of Rory Best, while Devin Toner joins Paul O’Connell in the engine room. Chris Henry is at openside with Peter O’Mahony and Jamie Heaslip joining him in the back row.
Ireland team to play South Africa:
15. Rob Kearney 14. Tommy Bowe 13. Jared Payne 12. Robbie Henshaw 11. Simon Zebo 10. Johnny Sexton 9. Conor Murray 1. Jack McGrath 2. Sean Cronin 3. Mike Ross 4. Devin Toner 5. Paul O’Connell 5. Peter O’Mahony 7. Chris Henry 8. Jamie Heaslip (c)
Replacements: 16. Richardt Strauss 17. Dave Kilcoyne 18. Rodney Ah You 19. Mike McCarthy 20. Rhys Ruddock 21. Eoin Reddan 22. Ian Madigan 23. Felix Jones
Photo by: Patrick Khachfe / Onside Images
3 replies on “Autumn Internationals 2014: Ireland team for South Africa”
Would prefere to see olding at 12 and henshaw at 13 but we will see how it goes exciting times for irish rugby! Hopefully it goes ok and is given a chance of a few games
A brave mid-field and an excellent back-row
Should be a great game!
I’m so glad that henshaw has been selected. He really does run with a traditional gliding outside break. Deserves it after being over looked for far too many years while Ireland suffered under declan kidney