Ireland team news: Two stars ruled of England clash - Ruck

Ireland team news: Two stars ruled of England clash

Ireland will be without Conor Murray and Rob Kearney due to injury and have dropped Devin Toner for Saturday’s game with England.

Jared Payne starts at full-back in place of the injured Kearney, with Kieran Marmion taking over from Murray at scrum-half. The rest of the backline remains unchanged.


RUGBY QUIZZES: 

Ireland’s back row remains the same with Jamie Heaslip, Sean O’Brien and CJ Stander all starting, but there is a change at lock, where Iain Henderson starts and Toner drops to the replacements.

Rory Best once again captains the side at hooker, flanked in the front row by Jack McGrath and Tadgh Furlong.

Luke McGrath comes onto the bench in place of Marmion as does the uncapped Munster back Andrew Conway.

Ireland: 15 Jared Payne, 14 Keith Earls, 13 Garry Ringrose, 12 Robbie Henshaw, 11 Simon Zebo, 10 Johnny Sexton, 9 Kieran Marmion, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 Sean O’Brien, 6 CJ Stander, 5 Iain Henderson, 4 Donnacha Ryan, 3 Tadgh Furlong, 2 Rory Best (c), 1 Jack McGrath
Replacements: 16 Niall Scannell, 17 Cian Healy, 18 John Ryan, 19 Devin Toner, 20 Peter O’Mahony, 21 Luke McGrath, 22 Paddy Jackson, 23 Andrew Conway
Date: Saturday, March 18
Venue: Aviva Stadium, Dublin
Kick-off: 19:00 local (17:00 GMT)
Referee: Jérôme Garcès (France)
Assistant Referees: Mathieu Raynal (France), Marius Mitrea (Italy)
TMO: Ben Skeen (New Zealand)