Team News: Ireland chop and change for Australia - Ruck

Team News: Ireland chop and change for Australia

Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt has made several changes to his starting line-up to face Australia in their Test series decider in Sydney on Saturday.

There are a number of alterations and positional switches to the side that started in Melbourne starting in the front-row where Jack McGrath and Sean Cronin will partner Tadhg Furlong.



In the second-row, James Ryan and Devin Toner pack down again while the back-row has a new look with Jack Conan coming in at number eight, CJ Stander switches to six while Peter O’Mahony moves to seven.

The half-back pairing of Conor Murray and Johnny Sexton are joined in midfield by Bundee Aki and Robbie Henshaw.

Jacob Stockdale comes back into the back three alongside Keith Earls and Rob Kearney.

The uncapped Ross Byrne is named in the replacements as is Tadhg Beirne, who made his debut last week. John Ryan and Niall Scannell are the front-row reserves while Jordi Murphy is also named.

Kieran Marmion and Jordan Larmour complete the bench.

Ireland: 15 Rob Kearney, 14 Keith Earls, 13 Robbie Henshaw, 12 Bundee Aki, 11 Jacob Stockdale, 10 Johnny Sexton, 9 Conor Murray, 8 Jack Conan, 7 Peter O’Mahony, 6 CJ Stander, 5 James Ryan, 4 Devin Toner, 3 Tadhg Furlong, 2 Sean Cronin, 1 Jack McGrath
Replacements: 16 Niall Scannell, 17 Cian Healy, 18 John Ryan, 19 Tadhg Beirne, 20 Jordi Murphy, 21 Kieran Marmion, 22 Ross Byrne, 23 Jordan Larmour
Date: Saturday, June 23
Venue: Allianz Stadium, Sydney
Kick-off: 20:00 local (11:00 BST, 10:00 GMT)
Referee: Pascal Gaüzère (France)
Assistant referees: Paul Williams (New Zealand), Marius van der Westhuizen (South Africa),
Television match official: Ben Skeen (New Zealand)