Ireland star gets game time against Fiji ahead of Springbok clash
TEAM ANNOUNCEMENT: Scrumhalf Jamison Gibson-Park will get some much-needed game time ahead of the match with world champions South Africa next week, as he starts for Ireland in their Nations Championship Test with Fiji.
The 34-year-old, who has played just once for Leinster this season and came on as a replacement in Ireland’s 42-12 victory over Argentina last week, partners Sam Prendergast at halfback for Saturday’s match at Lansdowne Road.
Prendergast produced perhaps his best performance at flyhalf for his country in the rout of the Pumas, capping it with a brilliant individual try.
Tadhg Beirne will captain the side, the veteran stepping in for Dan Sheehan, who has been ruled out because of concussion.
Mack Hansen, flanker Ryan Baird and prop Andrew Porter start for the second successive match as they are relatively fresh, having returned to the Test side last Friday after nearly a year’s absence.
Hansen, though, switches from the wing to fullback as Farrell rests Hugo Keenan after he starred in the Argentina match, scoring a hat-trick of tries.
Hansen’s move to fullback means Robert Baloucoune and Tommy O’Brien are reunited on the wings – they linked up brilliantly in the Six Nations, scoring five tries between them in the victories over England and Scotland earlier this year.
They will be optimistic of adding to their tally against a Fiji side that shipped 54 points against France last weekend and is anchored at the bottom of the southern hemisphere table.
Farrell has resisted bringing in a specialist No.8 with three already injured – regular captain Caelan Doris, Jack Conan and Sean Jansen. Instead, it is Nick Timoney who moves from flanker to fill the void.
Ireland are presently third in the northern hemisphere table with two matches remaining before the Nations Championship reaches its climax with finals weekend at Twickenham at the end of the month.
Ireland: 15 Mack Hansen, 14 Robert Baloucoune, 13 Jamie Osborne, 12 Bundee Aki, 11 Tommy O’Brien, 10 Sam Prendergast, 9 Jamison Gibson-Park, 8 Nick Timoney, 7 Josh van der Flier, 6 Ryan Baird, 5 Tadhg Beirne (captain), 4 James Ryan, 3 Tadhg Furlong, 2 Ronan Kelleher, 1 Andrew Porter.
Replacements: 16 Tom Stewart, 17 Tom O’Toole, 18 Sam Illo, 19 Darragh Murray, 20 James McNabney, 21 Craig Casey, 22 Ciaran Frawley, 23 Stuart McCloskey.
Date: Saturday, November 14
Venue: Aviva Stadium, Dublin
Kick-off: 20.10 UK & IRE (20.10 GMT; 08.10 FJT Sunday, November 15)
Referee: Angus Gardner (Australia)
Assistant referees: Luke Pearce (England), Damon Murphy (Australia)
TMO: Mike Adamson (Scotland)
Register your interest to receive priority updates on RWC27 ticket releases. Don't miss out, stay in the loop!
