Farrell reveals his winning hand
TEAM ANNOUNCEMENT: Ireland coach Andy Farrell has named the matchday 23 to travel to London to take on England at Twickenham in a Six Nations crunch match on Sunday.
It is an unchanged starting XV from that which beat Wales 24-14 in a Round Two match almost a fortnight ago.
Captain Johnny Sexton is named at flyhalf, with Conor Murray at scrumhalf.
Bundee Aki and Robbie Henshaw start their ninth Test match as the midfield partnership.
Jordan Larmour lines up at fullback, with Andrew Conway and Jacob Stockdale on the wings.
Cian Healy, Rob Herring and Tadhg Furlong start a third consecutive Test match in the front row.
Iain Henderson and James Ryan are in the second row.
Christiaan Stander, Peter O’Mahony and Josh van der Flier make up the back row combination.
The replacements on Saturday are Ronan Kelleher, Dave Kilcoyne, Andrew Porter, Devin Toner, Caelan Doris, John Cooney, Ross Byrne and Keith Earls.
Tom O Toole and Will Addison will return to Ulster to prepare for their Pro14 game against the Cheetahs – with the rest of the non-matchday 23 remaining in camp for the team’s final training session on Friday.
Exclusive: Andy Farrell on team selection, facing England, @Paul_OConnell in camp & a special visit from Bono.#ShoulderToShoulder #ENGvIRE #U2 #GuinnesSixNations #Bono pic.twitter.com/cNeLvRq02W
— Irish Rugby (@IrishRugby) February 19, 2020
Ireland: 15 Jordan Larmour, 14 Andrew Conway, 13 Robbie Henshaw, 12 Bundee Aki, 11 Jacob Stockdale, 10 Jonathan Sexton (captain), 9 Conor Murray, 8 Christiaan Stander, 7 Josh van der Flier, 6 Peter O’Mahony, 5 James Ryan, 4 Iain Henderson, 3 Tadhg Furlong, 2 Rob Herring, 1 Cian Healy.
Replacements: 16 Ronan Kelleher, 17 Dave Kilcoyne, 18 Andrew Porter, 19 Devin Toner, 20 Caelan Doris, 21 John Cooney, 22 Ross Byrne, 23 Keith Earls.
Date: Sunday, February 23
Venue: Twickenham Stadium, London
Kick-off: 15.00 (15.00 GMT)
Referee: Jaco Peyper (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Romain Poite (France), Alexandre Ruiz (France)
TMO: Marius Jonker (South Africa)
