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.