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Irish Head Coach Joe Schmidt has named a much changed side for his tem’s second Rugby World Cup Pool match against Romania in London on Sunday. Captain Paul O’Connell drops to the bench with Jamie Heaslip having been named captain in his place.
Cian Healy returns from injury to start at loosehead prop and join Richardt Strauss and Nathan White in a new-look front-row. Playing behind them will be Devin Toner and Donnacha Ryan, neither of whom started against Canada. Completing the starting forwards will be Chris Henry, Jamie Heaslip and Jordi Murphy in the back-row.
Eoin Reddan and Ian Madigan will have a run together in the halves with Schmidt looking to keep players fresh ahead of the tougher matches against Italy and France. Jared Payne will be joined in mid-field by Darren Cave while Simon Zebo, Tommy Bowe and Keith Earls will start in the back-three.
Ireland
15 Simon Zebo, 14 Tommy Bowe, 13 Jared Payne, 12 Darren Cave, 11 Keith Earls, 10 Ian Madigan, 9 Eoin Reddan, 8 Jamie Heaslip (Captain), 7 Chris Henry, 6 Jordi Murphy, 5 Devin Toner, 4 Donnacha Ryan, 3 Nathan White, 2 Richardt Strauss, 1 Cian Healy
16 Sean Cronin, 17 Jack McGrath, 18 Tadhg Furlong, 19 Paul O’Connell, 20 Sean O’Brien, 21 Conor Murray, 22 Paddy Jackson, 23 Rob Kearney
