
Share
13th March 2019
10:34am GMT

With Robbie Henshaw out, the Irish midfield is likely to stay Bundee Aki and Garry Ringrose. There will no changing the half backs or wingers but Kearney should nudge Jordan Larmour back to the replacements.
That leaves the second row and Schmidt would get very few arguments if he stuck with the pairing of Iain Henderson and James Ryan, who excelled against Les Bleus. However, Schmidt has noted that this championship is being viewed through a different prism.
The World Cup, in six months, is the end goal here so Schmidt is understandably tempted to try out Tadhg Beirne in what will be a white-hot atmosphere, at the Principality Stadium.
Beirne was left out of the matchday 23 for the France game with a suspected back issue but he trained fully with the squad on Tuesday and has satisfied the medical and coaching staff that he is good to go.
Beirne was a star in his two seasons with Scarlets, in Wales, and he has led the charts - in Europe and in the Guinness PRO14 - for turnovers in those past two years, and again with Munster this season.
It would be a gamble for Ireland but, given that they go into this weekend's games in third position, they have nothing to lose.
1. Cian Healy 2. Rory Best (captain) 3. Tadhg Furlong 4. James Ryan 5. Tadhg Beirne 6. Peter O'Mahony 7. Sean O'Brien 8. CJ Stander 9. Conor Murray 10. Johnny Sexton 11. Jacob Stockdale 12. Bundee Aki 13. Garry Ringrose 14. Keith Earls 15. Rob KearneyCHECK OUT THE BIG HOUSE OF RUGBY WALES vs. IRELAND PREVIEW https://youtu.be/0N39DlxtK8I
Explore more on these topics: