RBS 6 Nations 2012: Keith Earls Only Change to Ireland’s Starting XV to Face France

By Sport Desk; published on February 10, 2012 at 11:51 am

Ireland have made just one change to their Starting XV to face France in Saturday evening’s RBS 6 Nations 2012 encounter, from the side which was narrowly defeated by Wales on the opening weekend.

The Irish are able to welcome centre Keith Earls back to the team. Fergus McFadden will make way for the experienced back, and move to the replacements bench.

Stephen Ferris saw his citing for a late “tip tackle” overturned in midweek, enabling the Irish flanker to retain his starting berth.

Ireland name one uncapped player in their squad of 22 – the Cork back row forward, Peter O’Mahony.

Ireland Starting XV to Face France, RBS 6 Nations 2012

15 Rob Kearney (UCD/Leinster)
14 Tommy Bowe (Ospreys)
13 Keith Earls (Young Munster/Munster)
12 Gordon D’Arcy (Lansdowne/Leinster)
11 Andrew Trimble (Ballymena/Ulster)
10 Jonathan Sexton (St. Mary’s College/Leinster)
9 Conor Murray (Garryowen/Munster)
1 Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster)
2 Rory Best (Banbridge/Ulster)
3 Mike Ross (Clontarf/Leinster)
4 Donncha O’Callaghan (Cork Constitution/Munster)
5 Paul O’Connell (Young Munster/Munster) Captain
6 Stephen Ferris (Dungannon/Ulster)
7 Sean O’Brien (Clontarf/Leinster)
8 Jamie Heaslip (Naas/Leinster)

Ireland Replacements

16 Sean Cronin (St. Mary’s College/Leinster)
17 Tom Court (Malone/Ulster)
18 Donnacha Ryan (Shannon/Munster)
19 Peter O’Mahony (Cork Constitution/Munster)*
20 Eoin Reddan (Lansdowne/Leinster)
21 Ronan O’Gara (Cork Constitution/Munster)
22 Fergus McFadden (Old Belvedere/Leinster)

* Denotes uncapped player.

France v Ireland will kick-off at 21:00 CET (20:00 GMT) on the evening of Saturday 11th February 2012, at Stade de France, Paris.

Posted by Sport Desk on February 10, 2012. Filed under 6 Nations. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

News Tags: Andrew Trimble, Ballymena, Banbridge, Captain Stephen Ferris, Cian Healy, Clontarf, Conor Murray, Cork Constitution, Declan Kidney, Donnacha Ryan, Donncha O'Callaghan, Dungannon, Eoin Reddan, Fergus McFadden, France, Garryowen, Gordon D'Arcy, Ireland, Jamie Heaslip, Jonathan Sexton, Keith Earls, Lansdowne, Leinster, Malone, Mike Ross, Munster, Naas, Old Belvedere, Ospreys, Paul O'Connell, Peter O’Mahony, Rob Kearney, Ronan O'Gara, Rory Best, Sean Cronin, Sean O'Brien, Shannon, St. Mary's College, Stade de France, Tom Court, Tommy Bowe, UCD, Ulster, Young Munster.