Ireland adds to their South African portfolio
TEAM ANNOUNCEMENT: The Ireland team to face Italy in a World Cup warm-up match on Saturday has a decidedly experimental look.
Rhys Ruddock will captain Ireland for the seventh occasion and is joined in the back row by Tommy O’Donnell at openside flank and Jordi Murphy at No.8.
Devin Toner and the uncapped South African Jean Kleyn pack down at lock.
The 25-year-old lock, who won the Currie Cup with Western Province in 2014, is a project player and became eligible to play for the Irish only this week under residency rules.
Jack McGrath, Rob Herring and Andrew Porter making up the front row.
Luke McGrath and Joey Carbery fill the halfback positions, with Chris Farrell and Garry Ringrose named in the centre.
Jordan Larmour starts at fullback – supported by Andrew Conway and Dave Kearney on the wings.
The replacements named for Saturday’s game are Niall Scannell, Cian Healy, John Ryan, Iain Henderson, Tadhg Beirne, Kieran Marmion, Jack Carty and Mike Haley.
Flank Rhys Ruddock will captain the side as coach Joe Schmidt is resting regular skipper Rory Best ahead of the other three Tests – before Ireland fly to Japan, where they open their campaign on September 22 against Scotland.
Ireland play England at Twickenham on August 24 – followed by a double-header with this year’s Six Nations Grand Slam winners Wales, in Cardiff on August 31 and then Dublin on September 7.
Teams:
Ireland: 15 Jordan Larmour, 14 Andrew Conway, 13 Garry Ringrose, 12 Chris Farrell, 11 Dave Kearney, 10 Joey Carbery, 9 Luke McGrath, 8 Jordi Murphy, 7 Tommy O’Donnell, 6 Rhys Ruddock (captain), 5 Jean Kleyn, 4 Devin Toner, 3 Andrew Porter, 2 Rob Herring, 1 Jack McGrath.
Replacements: 16 Niall Scannell, 17 Cian Healy, 18 John Ryan, 19 Iain Henderson, 20 Tadhg Beirne, 21 Kieran Marmion, 22 Jack Carty, 23 Mike Haley.
Italy: 15 Edoardo Padovani, 14 Angelo Esposito, 13 Tommaso Benvenuti, 12 Marco Zanon, 11 Giulio Bisegni, 10 Carlo Canna, 9 Guglielmo Palazzani, 8 Jimmy Tuivaiti, 7 Maxime Mbanda, 6 Giovanni Licata, 5 Dean Budd, (captain), 4 Alessandro Zanni, 3 Marco Riccioni, 2 Oliviero Fabiani, 1 Nicola Quaglio.
Replacements: 16 Federico Zani, 17 Andrea Lovotti, 18 Simone Ferrari, 19 Marco Lazzaroni, 20 Renato Giammarioli, 21 Callum Braley, 22 Ian McKinley, 23 Matteo Minozzi.
Date: Saturday, August 10
Venue: Aviva Stadium, Dublin
Kick-off: 14.00 (15.00 Italian time; 13.00 GMT)
Referee: Luke Pearce (England)
Assistant referees: Tom Foley (England), Mike Adamson (Scotland)
TMO: Graham Hughes (England)
