IRELAND HEAD COACH Andy Farrell has included Andrew Conway and James Lowe on the wings in his team to face Japan at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday [KO 1pm, RTÉ].
Leinster hooker Rónan Kelleher has won the battle to wear the number two shirt for the Autumn Nations Series clash in Dublin in what is a strong team captained by Johnny Sexton on the occasion of his 100th Ireland cap.
Leinster’s 23-year-old hooker Dan Sheehan is set for his debut off the bench, with Ulster’s Rob Herring missing out on the matchday 23.
Lowe and Conway join Hugo Keenan in the back three, while Bundee Aki and Garry Ringrose team up in midfield with Robbie Henshaw still on the way back from a foot injury.
Out-half Sexton is joined by Leinster team-mate Jamison Gibson-Park in the halfback pairing, with Munster’s Joey Carbery and Conor Murray offering back-up from the bench.
Kelleher is part of an all-Leinster front row along with Tadhg Furlong and Andrew Porter, who starts at loosehead prop after making the switch from tighthead with his province early on this season.
Tadhg Beirne and James Ryan are the second row combination, with Ulster’s Iain Henderson on the bench, while Caelan Doris, Josh van der Flier, and Jack Conan make up a dynamic back row trio.
The Ireland bench includes Peter O’Mahony and Keith Earls.
Ireland (v Japan):
- 15. Hugo Keenan
- 14. Andrew Conway
- 13. Garry Ringrose
- 12. Bundee Aki
- 11. James Lowe
- 10. Johnny Sexton (captain)
- 9. Jamison Gibson-Park
- 1. Andrew Porter
- 2. Rónan Kelleher
- 3. Tadhg Furlong
- 4. Tadhg Beirne
- 5. James Ryan
- 6. Caelan Doris
- 7. Josh van der Flier
- 8. Jack Conan
Replacements:
- 16. Dan Sheehan
- 17. Cian Healy
- 18. Finlay Bealham
- 19. Iain Henderson
- 20. Peter O’Mahony
- 21. Conor Murray
- 22. Joey Carbery
- 23. Keith Earls
Referee: Nika Amashukeli [GRU].
Balacoune, Frawley, Coombes and Baird should have been in 23
@Jonny Walls: Reckon they’ll be either benching or starting Vs New Zealand and Vs Argentina.
@Daithi O’S: Hopefully. Would be good to see
@Jonny Walls: Whatever about Coombes injury, RB absence is a travesty. He’s the best 14 we have. I love Conway’s grit and enthusiasm but at least would have put RB on the bench.
Definitely looking to the future with this selection, when will we ever learn?
@Calvin Jones: not with Farrell.
@Calvin Jones: and get hosed v NZ? Team needs at least 1 match together
If it was the RWC final, or a 6 Nations decider then by all means pick the best 23 regardless of age, experience or anything else, but for these international games we should be focused on development. We still years out from the world rankings being a consideration.
We have 3 games against good/great opposition and we don’t ‘have’ to win.
Sexton, POM, Healy, Earls, Herring, Murray, Aki, even Furlong. We know what they can do and have nothing to learn about them. I realise some are necessary to make a competitive team, but their starts/minutes should be limited to test the the newcomers.
The likes of Baloucoune, Coombes, Doris, Keenan, Baird, Casey, Timoney, O’Toole and Harry Byrne need to be tested at the this level and the more established of those players need to be tested against NZ
@Johnny 5: Think the older players get an unfair kicking, but what is the benefit of including Healy, POM, Murray and Earls off the bench here. Those minutes could have been given to O’Toole, Coombes, Casey and Baloucoune
@Johnny 5: if Sheehan comes on for his debut he deserves to be paired with seasoned internationals in the front row. Hard enough to make your debut but having to do it alongside another rookie is unfair.
@Johnny 5: is there any weight to the argument that says zebo should have been included in the squad?
@alan: to be honest, I don’t think there much to learn about Zebo against Japan and the game time would be better going to Baloucoune, but I would like see him in the 23 against the NZ to see what level he is at and if he can step back to up to international level.
@Patrick Waldron Healy: No offence to Bealham, but, is the difference between Tom O’Toole and Bealham so great in terms of the protection Sheehan will get. With Porter moving back across our current tighthead depth chart reads Furlong…. then likes of Bealham and John Ryan, and a converted Healy… and a bunch of uncapped kids. They have clearly decided O’Toole is the next in line so back him. If Sheehan is good enough he should be able to give an account of himself for 20mins against a Japanese front row regardless of whether it’s O’Toole or Bealham
@Johnny 5: O’Toole’s got a single cap against the USA. It’s ludicrous to suggest he is a proven safe pair of hands. If the scrum goes to pot it’d be more difficult to identify who’s to blame. Not to mention without proven jumpers and lifters in the lineout how could anyone tell if his throwing was any good. Throwing a load of kids in together would make it very difficult to assess how set peices fail.
I don’t mind the starting XV, but the bench including POM,Murray and Earls is not exactly a step forward. Coombes, Casey and Frawley May have been better. Question mark with JGP too.
@John Peeters: to be honest is it worthwhile having Healy there? One of the comments here is that the IRFU is more afraid of works rankings than development. Maybe, maybe not, but the Japan game was the opportunity not be necessarily to stack newbies in the starting XV, but certainly have them on the bench
Wasted opportunity
@john joe brady: I get the point to a degree, but it’s closish, bar the few people’s opinions, to a first choice. They all need game time as much as blooding new players. You can’t go into a game against the ABs cold. Look at Wales last week, a lot of new players and were given a lesson, would people be happy to be humped like that? No. So to give the team the best chance the players need game time to get up to speed with international play and also run through parts of how they want to play the game, all the training games in the world make up for nothing compared to proper tests. I have no doubt there will be opportunity for the full squad over the series but realistically we want to compete with AB and learn and to do that need to be up to speed and not cold hence this selection v Japan
@This time its personable!: We don’t need to win any of these games. World ranking points mean nothing until after the world Cup so we don’t need to play our first team here. We went into the last W.C with 2 injured out halves and no back up in a lot of areas and we paid for it. We have 2 good out halves but they are extremely injury prone so it’s time to try out any of the no.2s in the provinces to see if they can cut the mustard. Nobody will remember in 2 years time if we beat Japan in the autumn series bet you still remember the result and who beat us in the last 8 of the last 3 world cups.
@Michael McGrath: if a player can’t make their provincial shirt their own they have little business in being in the international squad, saving a few obvious exceptions. It’s not about ranking points but trying to learn, you want to out your best against the best so you can learn how they do. This selection against Japan, who shouldn’t be taken for granted, is obviously with an eye on the ABs. If you agree this is majority first choice players, then you’ll want to see how they do against the ABs. Throwing in a new 15 will just look confused and won’t really learn anything about what your real first choice will be. Remember they didn’t do too badly in the six nations last year despite everyone’s negativity right now and it’s still a team transitioning.
@This time its personable!: How many Leinster players in the last 2 years have got games and squad time with very limited pro 14 game time never mind Heineken Cup time and on the bench there again we have no. 2 players on ahead of 1st team players from other provinces Dan Sheehan case in point, Harry Byrne, Caelin Doris, Ryan Baird at other times. I have no issue with this but when it comes to Leinster it’s one rule for their upcoming players compared to the other provinces as far as their fans are concerned
@Michael McGrath: Doris is first choice practically. Baird isn’t far off. I did say the obvious few. I assume Byrne is in their the same as Casey, potential only and I’d question why Doak or Healy aren’t there over either of them as they’re playing better. Sheehan there for potential but also probably because after Herring there isn’t too much more. It’s not a Leinster bias or anti Leinster. It’s selecting the best team to win games and using certain games to bring in the best young talent. It’s Ireland, nothing to do with provinces, it’s petty stuff that
@This time its personable!: true you don’t want to get absolutely battered by NZ but the issue is players haven’t been blooded already against other teams which is why we’re left in this position of having only a handful of tried and tested players at this level. Wales gave Taine Basham his first start against NZ and he was their best player by a mile. He will likely now be offered at lot more game time as a result and have good experience come the world cup. Ireland may lose in a close contest but it will do nothing for squad except give Farrell a few more months on his contract. In a well coached team players should ideally be able to slot in to positions without causing disruption. It’s one of the main reasons NZ run away with games in the last 20 compared with most other teams
@Ricky Rose: Wales had to field the team they did. Look at their team this week. Ok Basham played well, and has kept his place. That’s more to do with Wales hand being forced through circumstances. We don’t need to do that and I have no doubt things will be tried later in this international window but this team hasn’t played together since March so need a bit of a run out and then change things in the last two game when you know what shape or not the incumbents are in. New Zealand run away with games in the last 20 mins at this time of year as they have been playing together for almost 4 months by now and well they’re just exceptional, could field a B team and put most teams away too by a big score.
How is Coombes not on the bench ahead of POM?? If not now then when
@BMJF: Covid… or maybe that was Baird
Well that is abysmal. Same muck for 4 years
Bench Is a complete joke. What’s the point with lads well over the hill for a challenge match.
Said it for last few weeks, felt like Ireland was going to go locked and loaded with tried and tested. And here we are.
It’s clear that Ireland is not really looking at WC preparations.
They won’t test nee combos in the Six Nations as they state it’s there main revenue source. They won’t test nee combos in a 3 test tour of Nz next summer as they will argue it’s against the worlds best.
And that leaves us with little to no time again!
It’s just so predictable at this stage.
@Aaron Tynan: *new haha… side note from my moaning, I hope they still go well and I’ll be behind them cheering.
@Aaron Tynan: well that second part makes you sound sensible enough, everyone is entitled to opinions.
Interesting stat…none of the starting players came through the Ulster, Munster or Connacht system…all bar Aki havent played for Leinster!
@jay bernard: You don’t get picked for Leinster International if you are a home grown player from Munster Ulster or Conn with very few exceptions.
@jay bernard: it’s about time the other provinces started to stand up and produce the talent required for international level.
@Ro Molloy: like Robbie Henshaw, probably our best player? The other provinces need to start pulling their weight and producing more players of that kind of quality like Connacht have
@jay bernard: A very disappointing stat, but an excellent one nontheless.
@jay bernard: It’s as disappointing as it’s the status quo…..AF is afraid to select any other provincial player in place of a Leinster one unless they’re at least 110% better…..witness the SH selection….no marmion/doak/blade/cooney….JGP???….and Lowe back in??? Even the bluest of blue can see that merry ship Lowe sailed a long time ago….as i said….disappointing but not in any way shocking….
…a selection riddled with fear…IRFU for a drop in world ranking and its consequences and AF for his job…
@Michael Murray:AF is in no danger of losing his job. IRFU don’t have the money to pay his replacement!
Earls at 11, Aki to 13, McClosky at 12, Coombs at 6 and wouldn’t have Gibson Park near the pitch with his form at the moment
@GrassHopper: the form scrum half at the moment.
@Ro Molloy:
@Ro Molloy: I’d disagree, Luke McGrath is Imo but isnt in the squad
Leinster v Japan. A shambolic selection!
@Prof. William Joyce: well there is five replacements with no previous connection to Leinster.
@Prof. William Joyce: Do you think I can sneak in with my Leinster season ticket?
Pretty negative comments.
But you can’t put out under cooked team for nz .
Couple of young guys getting in there to tho.
But your never going to keep folk happy here. I’d have 12 munster lads on. And feel others would have 12 Leinster lads etc. But it dose nt work that way.
We definitely need to win these 2 games.
Can try few younger lads after nz.
@Paddy Waggon: cooked or not that team isn’t beating New Zealand, could’ve really saved ourselves the embarrassment of losing to them and not actually testing out squad depth and just lost to them with an experimental team and gained a lot from it
@Kohn Jeenan: what did Wales gain last week only some shattered confidence for some new players.
@This time its personable!: I’m sure they learnt what they’d set out to learn about where a lot of their players are, I doubt they were expecting to win and there’s no shame in losing to the all blacks. We’d gain a lot less trying to lose by less than we would if were not afraid of trying stuff out.
It’s like history repeating itself from the last cycle, best team in the world every autumn unless it’s a World Cup year.
@Kohn Jeenan: Coaches might learn something and the players a bit too, but confidence gets smashed and they’re set back, look at Lowe last year. I think people are forgetting how Ireland played their way into the six nations last year and the were rather unlucky in some games. The summer games were full of blooding players and they’ll get their chance again. If you put out a complete unknown team v the ABs you run the risk of having so much to learn from it you learn nothing, if you go in with some knowns, you can then learn better and that might result in changes of ways of playing and players or players to suit the new ways of playing. Look that’s just my view, yours is one of fail fast learn fast and mines of incremental change and improvement each has their merits in given situations
@This time its personable!: Would starting carberry Casey and balacoune be a complete unknown team???
@Barry Newell: starting Casey and Carberry together would be a huge part of it yes, two of the most pivotal positions. To be fair Balacoune could easily have made the starting line up and wouldn’t have been out of place, he’s very impressive and more so in his position than the other two in theirs right now. I don’t think either of their form deserves to start. JGP for his faults is playing better as is Sexton. People give out about not picking on form, then why pick two players who aren’t playing well just for the sake of something different. If you wanted new people in those positions for the sake of having new people in and ignoring the fact you’re trying to get your best team match fit then would be Blade and Harry Byrne or Healy. That’s only an opinion if it was going down the route.
@This time its personable!: Actually the best nine in Ireland at present is marmion. Surely carberry doesn’t fall into the inexperienced category at this stage. Casey is second season now. My stance on sexton will never change. Every game he plays between now and the world cup is setting the whole squad back aa year. As long as we compare every fly half with sexton they are f####d. he’s been brilliant but he’s holding back any development.
@Barry Newell: Right now he rightly has the shirt based on form not just past performances. This is what everyone wants in a team. Up to all the others to up their game and they don’t seem keen or able to do that. I’m sure some will start to put their hands up. We’ve been lucky over 30 years to have Elwood to Humphreys to ROG to Sexton and battles for the shirt, unfortunately right now we don’t have that in that position. Can’t blame Sexton, if he’s good enough to play he should right now, let the others catch up if they want to, if they’re not able, then that’s the real issue, not continuing to play Sexton. These guys aren’t doing it for their province how do people expect them to do it at international level. You could be right on Marmion by the way.
@Barry Newell: one last thing… Something you said about never changing your stance – People who can’t change their mind, will never change anything!
@This time its personable!: Bizarrely I’m the one looking for change you’re happy with the same formula that worked so well for last two world cups.
@Barry Newell: sorry that wasn’t meant as snide as it sounded, it just cropped into my head someone has said it before and possibly some truth in what you just said. Though I guess I wouldn’t change to inferior just for the sake of change. The issue is none of the others are playing well enough for their province (not getting into the Carty issue, only those on the squad) to challenge Sexton on current form never mind his 2018 best. The problem is the other players not being good enough, not Sexton’s issue really. If they can’t produce the goods in the ‘I can’t believe it’s not the Pro14′, then they’ll hardly turn it on instantly v the ABs or Japan.
just depressing tbh this
@Dara (Alex): Christ. Wish my life was so uneventful that a team selection depressed me.
Great team. Great bench. Good balance of experience and youth. Going to be an interesting few weeks. C’mon the green.
Looks like a lot of the safe hands getting a run out ahead of the NZ match. I’m assuming any chance the youth will get to get out there will be against Argentina. Obviously some complaints but I wonder how many would be complaining if we send out a less than 1st choice for the NZ match, the truth is they probably need a competitive match to flex the 1st choice a week out from NZ. Not that Japan are a walk over these days…
Wonder how Leinster International will fare this season pretty dire last season. How about a Republic of Conn Ulster and Munster maybe we can enter a team in the six nations instead of Italy.
@bullfrogblues: But eh…. Republic of C.U.M.? What now? It is very Leinster heavy. As much as I love Leinster, is this good for the provinces as a whole? Players with International exposure is what gives the provinces or any clubs, that extra umph! What if “Leinster International” doesn’t faire well? I hope there’s a plan B from Farrell, part of a managers skillset is merging the best from different clubs into an international machine, I would think.
Great team as they round the corner the NZ with so few minutes under their belts. Looking forward to these matches
This may be provincial, but Ulster have been arguably the 2nd best province (or team in the league) over the last few years and if not its very close. So zero Ulster players make the starting XV and only one makes the 23? Thats the same as Ulster players in the Wales team v SA!?! It just doesn’t add up. Dragons are a worse team than Ulster yet have more represention at international level?!?!?
@Kingshu: besides Bundee the whole starting XVs from Leinster or plays for Leinster tbf, don’t see what we gain from this
@Kohn Jeenan: winners the lot of them.
@Chris Mc: well La Rochelle beat basically this team and fairly convincingly too so we’re hardly expecting them to hold up against quality international teams are we?
@Kingshu: good preparation for the 27th
@Kohn Jeenan: well they could have included a few more players who lose more league games than they win. What currently played 5 lost 3.
@Chris Mc: the logic you’re following of “this one individuals team of 23 loses more than this other individuals team of 23 so he must be individually worse” just makes no sense at all, there’s also about as many Connacht players in the wider squad now as there was when we actually won the league so that shows it’s nothing to do with a team’s success either.
Yawn, yawn, yawn. Think I’ll walk the dog on Saturday
The only excuse for this selection is that it’s being used to warm up 1st team players for NZ game – and we’ll see Casey, Coombes, Frawley etc in 23 for Argentina game
While I would love us to get past a RWC quarter-final and wish AF had been more adventurous with the 23, I do think the overall squad he picked for November was a big step forward. You can and should pick a strong spine to any team you name, while incorporating a few new faces, either from the start or from bench. Some seem to feel you have to lose all games between now and RWC 2023 by playing massively inexperienced teams. I think you can have good Six Nations, November Series and have a good crack with World Cup by finding a happy balance. Not sure AF has done that yet but we have 2 years to do it. Hopefully Frawley, Balacoune, HByrne might get game time yet.
I think I fell asleep reading that selection. What a waste of time. Infuriating.
Disappointed but not surprised with that selection. Andy ” play it safe ” Farrell is looking to will all 3 games rather than focus on the bigger picture. Must be terrified he will be sacked if they loses to Japan again. Looking like the same team for the following week to.
Predictable as ever.
The referee is an interesting pick.
12 Leinster + 3 kiwis
@Leroy Jenkins: there must be some agreement between the IRFU and playing Lowe and Gibson-Park. Certainly not the best players in Ireland in their positions.
Expect the viewing figures and general interest in the sport to be lowe over this autumn series.
Coombes needs to be involved via bench at minimum. Backline is the most disappointing.. ringrose has had great days in green and henshaw and farrel are out but he has looked well off his own set standards to say the least and gets a starting jersey for his trouble.
Lowe creates havoc going forward and havoc when trusted with basic defending. Conway again has set excellent standards for himself but hasn’t reached them as of late.
Lastly and this may be just a personal opinion but Timoney in the backrow is on better form and offers more than Jvdf at present. Even if I’m wrong here , it’s surely a game for the marginal less experienced players to have an involvement of some description.
@baw baw:Post lockdown crowds back at the Stadium, I expect a great atmosphere and I’d say the viewing figures will be fairly high considering it’s on at 1pm ,
Don’t know why he keeps selecting Joey Carbury, Lowe & Gibson-Park…they’re clearly not up to standard…Keith Earls, Peter O’Mahony, Cian Healy, Connor Murray…great players & servants for Ireland but how many of them will be around in 2 years time…get the young players in ASAP..
The URC should keep going while these inevitably shloppy internationals get going. Hold for the 6N maybe. Second game of the international season against the globe trotters, someone scheduled that well.
A squad which ighlights the narrow breath of talent which means that Ireland will never be a serious, consistent competitor at the top level:
Same number of players from one school (Blackrock College- 5) as from the second largest supplier (Munster) of 4 in total to the national team.
In no other elite level sport would this be conceivable.
Good team, probably should have experimented a bit more with the bench, although it’ll be interesting to see how Sheehan goes. Hopefully we’ll be primed to give nz a good test the following week and then experiment against Argentina after that.
Bench is mad- Murray covering 9 and 10, Carbury covering 15 and then Earls has 11-14.
@murt de murty: Ah here, people just looking for anything to complain about. Having a 9, 10 and outside back as your 3 bench backs is about as bog standard as you can get.
@Killian Fitzgerald: jeez it’s a joke like. We are fooked at 10 for the world cup.
@murt de murty: fair enough murt, my bad
Apart from the front row it’s pretty uninspiring to be honest. This team would give them a good run for their money.
Kilcoyne Herring Bealham
Kleyn Baird
POM Coombes Timoney
Casey
Healy
Earls
Frawley
Farrell
Balacounne
Zebo
Another Irish cop out and another opportunity lost as we continue to prioritize the next meaningless test match over and above long game prep for the World Cup, where we have never had a semifinal! We again get what we deserve.
The best team we can put out at present with Henshaw injured but would like to have seen more variation on the bench with the likes of Coombes and Baloucoune given a chance.
Does Farrell have an actual clue?
I don’t understand Andy Farrell at all , what’s with all the older players on the bench healy o mahony earls ?even worse the in form players left out, cooney marmion even blade and McGrath are miles better than Gibson/park if he wasnts to go for the quick zippy scrum half then cooney and blade should be picked with marmion , give murray a rest , balacoune instead of Conway and frawley on bench instead of earls , Baird should be in there as well ,