IRELAND TEAM NEWS: Ireland coach Declan Kidney has revamped his starting line-up as the Grand Slam bandwagon rolls into Edinburgh this weekend. Having stuck with the same side in the opening three Six Nations wins, Kidney has made four changes for the match against Scotland.
Back come Gordon D’Arcy and Peter Stringer at centre and scrumhalf with Rory Best and Denis Leamy named in the pack. Paddy Wallace, Tomas O'Leary, Jerry Flannery and Jamie Heaslip are the players to make way.
The recalls for D’Arcy, in particular, and Best had been expected, the inclusion of both Stringer and Leamy less so. But having maintained all along that he would adopt a squad system, Kidney was as good as his word today as he freshened things up and rewarded some fine performances from the bench.
While there is little evidence that any of the players to make way have put a foot wrong, all four ‘newcomers’ have made their marks when introduced as replacements in this championship.
D’Arcy, back and firing on all cylinders since his comeback from injury, has been pushing Wallace hard for the starting berth alongside Brian O’Driscoll from the word go, scoring when introduced against France and influential once more in Rome.
Similarly, the debate concerning Best and Flannery has raged for the past month with the Ulster skipper now getting his chance from the start.
Stringer’s time on the pitch has given a greater urgency at the base of the scrum but one suspects O’Leary remains higher up the pecking order in the greater scheme of things.
Leamy, meanwhile, will require a monumental performance at Murrayfield to dislodge Heaslip, one of Ireland’s stand-out performers, ahead of a potential Grand Slam decider in Cardiff.
“The four guys who have come in have been doing very well in training and have a done a good job whenever they’ve come on,” Kidney said today.
“The lads who are out have done nothing wrong. The new guys will bring their own chemistry to the team and have a wealth of experience, which we’ll need against Scotland.”
With Malcolm O’Kelly, who faces a disciplinary hearing at Murrayfield later today, not involved in the squad John Hayes will become Ireland’s most capped player. The Bull, currently locked with O’Kelly on 92, will move clear of the Leinster secondrow.
Ireland team (v Scotland):R Kearney (Leinster); T Bowe (Ospreys), B O'Driscoll (Leinster, captain), G D'Arcy (Leinster), L Fitzgerald (Leinster); R O'Gara (Munster), P Stringer (Munster); M Horan (Munster), R Best (Ulster), J Hayes (Munster), D O'Callaghan (Munster), P O'Connell (Munster), S Ferris (Ulster), D Wallace (Munster), D Leamy (Munster). Replacements: J Flannery (Munster), T Court (Ulster), M O'Driscoll (Munster), J Heaslip (Leinster), T O'Leary (Munster), P Wallace (Ulster), G Murphy (Leicester).
