Garry Ringrose, whose defensive excellence was highlighted by his absence in Ireland’s 34-20 win over Italy in the Stadio Olimpico, is in line to return to the Irish side to face Scotland when the team is announced at lunchtime on Friday.
Bundee Aki, who started his first Test for Ireland at outside centre as a late call-up in a new, makeshift midfield in Rome, is likely to revert to his more familiar position of inside centre, where he had made his previous 34 starts in an Irish jersey.
Robbie Henshaw, who has barely played five minutes for Ireland this season, is set to be make his return from the bench. Henshaw has been absent since the autumn win over Fiji, when a hamstring issue resurfaced and that, combined with wrist surgery, meant he not only missed out on the November victories over South Africa and Australia, but also the three Six Nations wins to date in this campaign.
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All in all, Andy Farrell is set to welcome back a raft of frontline players, with Ringrose’s return one of potentially six changes from the side which beat Italy a fortnight ago.
Johnny Sexton will return to captain the side after being forced to watch the Italian game from the Stadio Olimpico stands alongside Ringrose due to the groin injury he suffered as a result of the 162kg French prop Uini Atonio falling on top of him two weeks previously.
Jamison Gibson-Park, having been ruled out of the opening win over Wales in Cardiff on the morning of the game, seems sure to return to the matchday squad. Given he is a naturally fit player with an extraordinary level of conditioning, this may well counter his absence for five weeks. After all, Farrell had no compunction of giving Gibson-Park a delayed seasonal reappearance at the outset of last season’s autumn series when starting against Japan before doing so again a week later against the All Blacks.
There would appear to be a similarly difficult call to be made at hooker where Rónan Kelleher, Dan Sheehan and Rob Herring are again all in the mix. As in Rome, most likely Kelleher and Sheehan will be in the matchday squad, with the latter perhaps set to start this time. Alongside him, Finlay Bealham’s misfortune probably accentuates the need to reinsert the fit-again Tadhg Furlong for his first game since early December.
James Ryan and Iain Henderson are likely to resume their secondrow partnership, and it would be a major surprise if Peter O’Mahony is not restored to the starting line-up at blindside. This would, in turn, allow Caelan Doris to return to his more effective position of number eight, where he was outstanding last summer in all three Tests against New Zealand, the autumn wins over South Africa and Australia, and the opening two Six Nations wins over Wales and France.
Indeed, if Sheehan is chosen from the off at hooker, save for the injured Tadhg Beirne, this would then be the same Irish pack which started all three Tests in the series win over the All Blacks.
Furthermore, if Gibson-Park starts, this would be the same halves and outside three which started the second and third Tests in New Zealand, and a combination of Aki and Ringrose, who took turns in partnering Henshaw.
One of the knock-on effects of Ireland returning to something like full-strength is the quality of the replacements, which should feature either Kelleher or Sheehan, and Gibson-Park or Murray, along with David Kilcoyne (although that always seems to be a close call with Cian Healy), Tom O’Toole and Ryan Baird, to be joined by Jack Conan and Ross Byrne as well as the returning Henshaw.
Such is the likely strength of the matchday 23 that in addition to the injured Finlay Bealham, both Craig Casey – who started in Rome – and Stuart McCloskey may well miss out entirely, despite the latter impressing as ever-present starter at 12 in Ireland’s six Tests to date this season.
Scotland coach Gregor Townsend will also unveil his side at around 2pm on Friday, with Jonny Gray expected to be named in the secondrow alongside brother Richie in the absence of the suspended Grant Gilchrist.
IRELAND (possible): Hugo Keegan (Leinster); Mack Hansen (Connacht), Garry Ringrose (Leinster), Bundee Aki (Connacht), James Lowe (Leinster); Johnny Sexton (Leinster, capt), Jamison Gibson-Park (Leinster); Andrew Porter (Leinster), Dan Sheehan (Leinster), Tadhg Furlong (Leinster); James Ryan (Leinster), Iain Henderson (Ulster); Peter O’Mahony (Munster), Josh van der Flier (Leinster), Caelan Doris (Leinster).
Replacements: Rónan Kelleher (Leinster), David Kilcoyne (Munster)/Cian Healy (Leinster), Tom O’Toole (Ulster), Ryan Baird (Leinster), Jack Conan (Leinster), Conor Murray (Munster), Ross Byrne (Leinster), Robbie Henshaw (Leinster).
