Andy Farrell has named his Ireland rugby team to play Scotland at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday, Kick off 4:45pm.
It seems this is just a follow on from Joe Schmidt with Sexton and Murray in the team with many of the players that started the embarrassing defeat to New Zealand are still playing. Amazingly 13 of the team that played against Scotland in the world cup start on Saturday. Only O’Mahony and the retired Best don’t start.
Murray has not been at his high standards for nearly two years and with John Cooney the best player in Pro14 it’s a real pity Farrell didn’t have the ambition to start the Ulster player.
Johnny Sexton has been out with an injured knee for nearly two months but comes straight into the team ahead of the in-form Ross Byrne. Sexton the new Ireland captain would really have wanted to play and Farrell is lucky that Ireland is playing a very poor Scotland team at the weekend so even Sexton at 60% Ireland will still win easily.
Betting
Its Ireland – 13 with most bookmakers, so expect Ireland to win by at least 14pts. You can use Unibet code and maybe place a bet on Conway to score the first try at 12/1.
Ireland Team & Replacements (v Scotland, Guinness Six Nations Championship, Aviva Stadium, Saturday 1st February 2020, KO 16.45)
15. Jordan Larmour (St Mary’s College/Leinster) 21 caps
14. Andrew Conway (Garryowen/Munster) 18 caps
13. Garry Ringrose (UCD/Leinster) 28 caps
12. Bundee Aki (Galwegians/Connacht) 23 caps
11. Jacob Stockdale (Lurgan/Ulster) 25 caps
10. Jonathan Sexton (St Marys College/Leinster) 88 caps Captain
9. Conor Murray (Garryowen/Munster) 78 caps
1. Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster) 95 caps
2. Rob Herring (Ballynahinch/Ulster) 8 caps
3. Tadhg Furlong (Clontarf/Leinster) 41 caps
4. Iain Henderson (Queens University/Ulster) 53 caps
5. James Ryan (UCD/Leinster) 23 caps
6. CJ Stander (Shannon/Munster) 38 caps
7. Josh van der Flier (UCD/Leinster) 23 caps
8. Caelan Doris (UCD/Leinster)*
Replacements:
16. Ronan Kelleher (Lansdowne/Leinster)*
17. Dave Kilcoyne (UL Bohemians/Munster) 36 caps
18. Andrew Porter (UCD/Leinster) 23 caps
19. Devin Toner (Lansdowne/Leinster) 67 caps
20. Peter O’Mahony (Cork Constitution/Munster) 64 caps
21. John Cooney (Terenure College/Ulster) 8 caps
22. Ross Byrne (UCD/Leinster) 3 caps
23. Robbie Henshaw (Buccaneers/Leinster) 40 caps
2020 Six Nations fixtures
Ireland vs Scotland, 16.45, Saturday, February 1
Ireland vs Wales, 14.15, Saturday, February 8
England vs Ireland, 15.00, Sunday, February 23
Ireland v Italy, 14.15, Saturday, March 7
France vs Ireland, 20.00, Saturday, March 14
2021 Six Nations fixtures
Wales vs Ireland, 15.00, Sunday, February 7
Ireland vs France, 15.00, Sunday, February 14
Italy vs Ireland, 14.15, Saturday, February 27
Scotland vs Ireland, 15.00, Sunday, March 14
Ireland vs England, 16.45, Saturday, March 20
