Irish rest stars for USA Test
TEAM ANNOUNCEMENT: Following their impressive win over the All Blacks, Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt has handed a worthy break to some of his star performers.
The coach has made 14 changes to the side that will face the United States of America on Saturday.
Rhys Ruddock captains the side and is joined in the backrow by Jordi Murphy and Jack Conan. Iain Henderson and Tadhg Beirne lock it down in the second row with Dave Kilcoyne, Niall Scannell and Finlay Bealham filling the front row slots.
John Cooney and Joey Carbery are named at half-back with Stuart McCloskey and Garry Ringrose operating in the centre. Will Addison lines out at fullback supported by Andrew Conway and Darren Sweetnam on the wings.
The replacements are Rob Herring, Cian Healy, John Ryan, Josh van der Flier, Luke McGrath, Ross Byrne and Sam Arnold.
Ireland: 15 Will Addison, 14 Andrew Conway, 13 Garry Ringrose, 12 Stuart McCloskey, 11 Darren Sweetnam, 10 Joey Carbery, 9 John Cooney, 8 Jack Conan, 7 Jordi Murphy, 6 Rhys
Ruddock (captain), 5 Iain Henderson, 4 Tadhg Beirne, 3 Finlay Bealham, 2 Niall Scannell, 1 Dave Kilcoyne
Replacements: 16 Rob Herring, 17 Cian Healy, 18 John Ryan, 19 Quinn Roux, 20 Josh van der Flier, 21 Luke McGrath, 22 Ross Byrne, 23 Sam Arnold
Date: Saturday, November 24
Venue: Aviva Stadium,
Kick-off: 18:30 (18.30 GMT, 12.30 USA time)
Referee: Ben O’Keeffe (New Zealand)
Assistant referees: Nic Berry (Australia), Marius Mitrea (Italy)
TMO: Ian Davies (Wales)
Here’s your Ireland team to play @USARugby in the final test match of the #GuinnessSeries#TeamOfUs #ShoulderToShoulder #IREvUSA pic.twitter.com/5E6ryvRSjc
— Irish Rugby (@IrishRugby) November 22, 2018
