LONDON – Henshaw’s out and Healy’s in as Ireland Coach Joe Schmidt selects his 23 man side to face Canada in their opening match of the Rugby World Cup on Saturday.
Centre Robbie Henshaw will miss the opener with a slight hamstring injury suffered during the week and will be replaced in the centres by utility back Luke Fitzgerald.
In one of Schmidt’s stronger Ireland trams, Paul O’Connell of course assumes the captaincy with Cian Healy making his appearance in the Ireland team for the first time since the 6 Nations and will likely come off the bench early in the 2nd half.
There have been many question marks over Healy since he’s been plagued by injury for the past six months. However Schmidt will likely ease Healy into it in the second half once the game is won.
Simon Zebo pays the price for a poor performance against England by being dropped to the bench for the Cardiff clash.
Ireland team to play Canada
1. Jack McGrath
2. Rory Best
3. Mike Ross
4. Iain Henderson
5. Paul O’Connell (capt)
6. Peter O’Mahony
7. Sean O’Brien
8. Jamie Heaslip
9. Conor Murray
10. Jonathan Sexton
11. Keith Earls
12. Luke Fitzgerald
13. Jared Payne
14. Dave Kearney
15. Rob Kearney
Replacements
16. Sean Cronin 17. Cian Healy 18. Nathan White 19. Donnacha Ryan 20. Chris Henry 21. Eoin Reddan 22. Ian Madigan 23. Simon Zebo