Ireland head coach Andy Farrell has named his team that will face South Africa in their opening Autumn Nations Series clash on Saturday.
Conor Murray is preferred to Jamison Gibson-Park at scrum-half and will celebrate the start on the day he wins his 100th cap at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin.
Murray is one of just five players in the starting XV that featured from the off in the last game between the two sides in 2017. Tadhg Furlong, Robbie Henshaw, Peter O’Mahony and Johnny Sexton were the other players to start against the Springboks five years ago, a game the Irish managed to come out on top.
Cian Healy, named on the bench this Saturday, also started the 2017 game while Rob Herring, James Ryan and Joey Carbery were riding the pine that day.
Milestone for Johnny Sexton
Ireland captain Sexton will make his 109th appearance this weekend, becoming the country’s fifth most capped player of all time ahead of Paul O’Connell.
Elsewhere in the backline, there are starts at centre for Henshaw and Garry Ringrose. Mack Hansen, Robert Baloucoune and Hugo Keenan are the back three.
Baloucoune missed the mid-year tour of New Zealand through injury but started against both the Griquas and the Cheetahs for Emerging Ireland in October.
Leinster prop duo Andrew Porter and Furlong pack down alongside Dan Sheehan in the front-row while Tadhg Beirne and Ryan start as the locks this week.
The back-row is equally impressive as O’Mahony joins Josh van der Flier and Caelan Doris as starters, with Jack Conan acting as their back up on the bench.
Trio join extended squad
In other news from the Ireland camp, it has been announced that Nathan Doak, Tom Stewart and Stewart Moore have now joined Farrell’s extended squad.
Ireland: 15 Hugo Keenan, 14 Robert Baloucoune, 13 Garry Ringrose, 12 Robbie Henshaw, 11 Mack Hansen, 10 Johnny Sexton (c), 9 Conor Murray, 8 Caelan Doris, 7 Josh van der Flier, 6 Peter O’Mahony, 5 James Ryan, 4 Tadhg Beirne, 3 Tadhg Furlong, 2 Dan Sheehan, 1 Andrew Porter
Replacements: 16 Rob Herring, 17 Cian Healy, 18 Finlay Bealham, 19 Kieran Treadwell, 20 Jack Conan, 21 Jamison Gibson-Park, 22 Joey Carbery, 23 Stuart McCloskey
Date: Saturday, November 5
Venue: Aviva Stadium, Dublin
Kick-off: 17:30 GMT
Referee: Nika Amashukeli (Georgia)
Assistant Referees: Mathieu Raynal (France), Andrea Piardi (Italy)
TMO: Stuart Terheege (England)
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