Joe Schmidt has named his Ireland team to play Australia in the first test of the summer tour. The opening game takes place at the Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane at 11am (Irish time) on Saturday morning.
It will see some of the bigger names in the squad - particularly Leinster players - given some rest. Munster-bound Joey Carbery will start at out-half with Johnny Sexton on the bench.
Robbie Henshaw and Bundee Aki renew their centre partnership while Gary Ringrose is not in the matchday 23.
In the front row, Jack McGrath, Rob Herring and John Ryan start with Cian Healy, Sean Cronin and Tadhg Furlong to come off the bench.
Peter O'Mahony will captain the team.
Ireland team to play Australia
15. Rob Kearney
14. Keith Earls
13. Robbie Henshaw
12. Bundee Aki
11. Jacob Stockdale
10. Joey Carbery
9. Conor Murray
1. Jack McGrath
2. Rob Herring
3. John Ryan
4. James Ryan
5. Iain Henderson
6. Peter O'Mahony (C)
7. Jordi Murphy
8. CJ Stander
Replacements
16. Sean Cronin
17. Cian Healy
18. Tadhg Furlong
19. Quinn Roux
20. Jack Conan
21. Kieran Marmion
22. Johnny Sexton
23. Jordan Larmour
The Australia team for the game has also been named.
Israel Folau
Marika Koroibete
Samu Kerevi
Kurtley Beale
Dane Haylett-Petty
Bernard Foley
Will Genia
Scott Sio
Brandon Paenga-Amosa
Sekope Kepu
Izack Rodda
Adam Coleman
David Pocock
Michael Hooper (C)
Caleb Timu
Replacements:
Tolu Latu
Allan Alaalatoa
Taniela Tupou
Rob Simmons
Lukhan Tui
Pete Samu
Nick Phipps
Reece Hodge.
The second test takes place on June 16th at AAMI Park in Melbourne and the third on June 23rd at Allianz Stadium in Sydney.
Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
