Ireland Coach Declan Kidney has named Keith Earls on the left wing of his starting fifteen to face France in the second game of the RBS 6 Nations Championship in Paris on Saturday afternoon next.
Andrew Trimble drops to the bench as Kidney opts for the Munster man in a backline that sees just the one change from the win over Italy. Donncha O’Callaghan has not recovered from the injury that ruled him out of the opening game so Leo Cullen has been named to start in the second row.
A vacancy has been left blindside flanker pending confirmation of the fitness of Stephen Ferris.
Both players took part in training with the Ireland team today but a final decision will be made on Thursday.
Seven replacements will be selected from the nine listed on Thursday next once decision of player’s fitness has been made.
Ireland Team & Replacements (v France, Stade De France, Saturday 13 February 2010, k.o. 16:30 gmt)
15 – Rob Kearney (UCD/Leinster)
14 – Tommy Bowe (Ospreys)
13 – Brian O’Driscoll (UCD/Leinster) (capt)
12 – Gordon D’Arcy (Lansdowne/Leinster)
11 – Keith Earls (Young Munster/Munster)
10 – Ronan O’Gara (Cork Constitution/Munster)
9 – Tomas O’Leary (Dolphin/Munster)
1 – Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster)
2 – Jerry Flannery (Shannon/Munster)
3 – John Hayes (Bruff/Munster)
4 – Leo Cullen (Blackrock College/Leinster)
5 – Paul O’Connell (Young Munster/Munster)
6 – A.N.Other
7 – David Wallace (Garryowen/Munster)
8 – Jamie Heaslip (Naas/Leinster)
Replacements:
Rory Best (Banbridge/Ulster)
Tom Court (Malone/Ulster)
Donnacha Ryan (Shannon/Munster)
Sean O’Brien (Clontarf/Leinster)
Kevin McLaughlin (St. Mary’s College/Leinster)
Eoin Reddan (Lansdowne/Leinster)
Jonathan Sexton (St. Mary’s College/Leinster
Paddy Wallace (Ballymena/Ulster)
Andrew Trimble (Ballymena/Ulster)
