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2nd February 2017
02:12pm GMT

"We got the team together last Monday and trained, Monday, Tuesday and Friday... they are very short windows but the team we put together gives us our best chance and are fully fit."O'Brien's last game was a month ago against a hopeless Zebre side but he must have done enough in training to convince his boss that he is ready for the Scots. On November 29, O'Brien was pilled from the Ireland team to face Australia and replaced by van der Flier.
The other big decisions were flagged in advance - Niall Scanell leap-frogging James Tracy to deputise for Ireland hooker, and captain, Rory Best, Iain Henderson partnering Devin Toner in the second row and Keith Earls stepping in for the hampered Andrew Trimble.
Schmidt confirmed that Donnacha Ryan, who does not feature in the matchday 23, is out due to a medial ligament [knee] strain. There was also bad news for Peter O'Mahony but Andrew Trimble and Johnny Sexton are in contention to face Italy on February 11.
https://twitter.com/patmccarry/status/827156193126793216
There was also a welcome return to the Ireland matchday squad for Ulster's Tommy Bowe. The 32-year-old has not played for Ireland since rupturing knee ligaments in Ireland's October 2015 World Cup exit to Argentina.
Ireland take on Scotland from 2:25pm at Murrayfield on Saturday.Explore more on these topics: