Around 12.45 today, Declan Kidney will announce his squad to play the Springboks on Saturday. On one level, it will be hugely depressing to see a starting XV shorn of BOD, POC, Best, and Ferris. At the same time, the injuries will force arch-conservative Kidney to experiment, blood players and make changes that Kidney would never dream of in match with the ramifications of this one. Who will he choose? Follow all of the coverage of the squad announcement right here as we build up to 12.30 at Carton House.
9.52: SPOLIER ALERT - Sindo rugby hack Brendan Fanning - who knows about things - might have gave all of the surprises in the Ireland with a tweet around 11pm last night. It looks like Zebo at fullback - as leaked by GT - is on. Fanning expects we could see four new caps by the end of the day - Strauss, Bent, Henderson and Kilcoyne
Zebo at 15. Kilcoyne and Henderson on bench. Along with Strauss and Bent it could be 4 new caps by close of play. Kidney he go crayzee!!
— Brendan Fanning (@BrendanFanning) November 7, 2012
10.16 Peter O'Reilly jumped the gun and announced the entire team about 20 minutes ago-
Zebo Bowe Earls DArcy Trimble Sexton Murray; Healy Strauss Ross Ryan McCarthy O'Mahony Heaslip (c).Kilcoyne and Henderson on bench
— Peter O'Reilly (@petersuntimes) November 8, 2012
Back row O'Mahony, Henry, Heaslip
— Peter O'Reilly (@petersuntimes) November 8, 2012
Interesting to see McCarthy there.
10.25: If O'Reilly is right, we're a bit surprised to see Kidney opting with McCarthy over his BFF Donncha O'Callaghan. Even our own Connacht-supporting rugby nerd Gavin Grace didn't see this one coming. Here's his revised starting XV for the match: Zebo, Bowe, Earls, McFadden, Trimble, Sexton, Reddan; Healy, Strauss, Ross, Ryan, O'Callaghan, McLoughlin, O'Mahony, Heaslip. (Note: he, and many others like him, would prefer to see Felix Jones at 15 instead of Zebo, but you can only pick what's in front of you)
11.38: Here are the rest of the revised starting XVs from our Rugby Nerd's Panel.
Andy McGeady (Leinster): Earls, Bowe, McFAdde, D'arcy, Zebo, Sexton, Reddan, Healy, Strauss, Ross, Ryan, Tuohy, McLoughlin, Henry, Heaslip,
Bench- Court, Cronin, Fitzpatrick, McCarthy, O'Mahony, Trimble, O'Gara
Ronan Murphy (Munster fan): Bowe, Trimble,Earls D'arcy, Zebo, Sexton, Murray,Healy, Strauss, Ross, Tuohy, Ryan, O'Mahony, Henry, Heaslip
Bench: Kilcoyne, Cronin, Bent, McCarthy, McLaughlin, Marshall, Jackson, McFadden
Paddy Logan (Ulster fan): Earls, Bowe, Cave, D’Arcy, Trimble, Sexton, Marshall, Healy, Strauss, Ross, McCarthy, Tuohy, Henderson, Heaslip
Bench: Cronin, Court, Fitzpatrick, Ryan, O’Mahony, Reddan, Jackson, Gilroy
12.04: In short only one of our rugby nerds think Zebo should start at fullback. And and onlly one of our nerds think McCarthy start in the second row. Does Declan Kidney know something the Rugby Nerds don't?
12.48: Here's your Ireland team:
12.56: Here's a photo of Kidney announcing the team as Heaslip and Strauss enjoy some water.
12.59: Ireland captain Jamie Heaslip gives us the best indication to date of the mo he'll be sporting this month.
13.01: Final post: the Ireland squad as initials.
Ireland: SZ, TB, KE, GD, AT, JS, CM; CH, RS*, MR, DR, MMcC, POM, CH, JH (c). Reps: SC, DK*, MB*, DOC, IH*, ER, ROG, FMcF 4 uncapped #IrlSa
— Irish Rugby (@irfurugby) November 8, 2012
Best of luck to the lads on Saturday. We fear they may need it.
