Milestone for Sexton as Ireland eye Triple Crown
TEAM ANNOUNCEMENT: Andy Farrell has named the final Ireland matchday squad of the 2022 Six Nations championship ahead of the Round Five clash with Scotland in Dublin on Saturday.
Johnny Sexton will equal John Hayes’ cap tally for Ireland (105) when he leads the side and will again have Jamison Gibson Park as his halfback partner.
Bundee Aki and Garry Ringrose are retained in midfield with a back three featuring Hugo Keenan, James Lowe and Mack Hansen, the Connacht wing comes in for Andrew Conway who is being managed for a knee niggle.
The front row of Cian Healy, Dan Sheehan and Tadhg Furlong is retained while Tadhg Beirne and Iain Henderson are named at lock.
Jack Conan is named at No.8 with Caelan Doris switching to the blindside flank and Josh van der Flier makes his eighth consecutive start at openside flank.
The replacements include Rob Herring, Dave Kilcoyne, Finlay Bealham, Kieran Treadwell, Peter OโMahony, Conor Murray, Joey Carbery and Robbie Henshaw.
Ireland can win the Triple Crown for the first time since 2018 by beating Scotland.
Ireland: 15 Hugo Keenan, 14 Mack Hansen, 13 Garry Ringrose, 12 Bundee Aki, 11 James Lowe, 10 Johnny Sexton (captain), 9 Jamison Gibson Park, 8 Jack Conan, 7 Josh van der Flier, 6 Caelan Doris, 5 Iain Henderson, 4 Tadhg Beirne, 3 Tadhg Furlong, 2 Dan Sheehan, 1 Cian Healy.
Replacements: 16 Rob Herring, 17 Dave Kilcoyne, 18 Finlay Bealham, 19 Kieran Treadwell, 20 Peter OโMahony, 21 Conor Murray, 22 Joey Carbery, 23 Robbie Henshaw.
Date: Saturday, March 19
Venue: Lansdowne Road, Dublin
Kick-off: 16.45 (16.45 GMT)
Referee: Wayne Barnes (England)
Assistant referees: Karl Dickson (England), Christophe Ridley (France)
TMO: Stuart Terheege (England)
๐ ๐๐๐๐ฆ ๐๐ง๐ง๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐๐๐ฆ๐๐ง๐ญ.
Head Coach Andy Farrell has named his Ireland Match Day Squad for a Super Saturday showdown against Scotland at @avivastadium! โ#TeamOfUs | #IREvSCO
โ Irish Rugby (@IrishRugby) March 17, 2022
