IRELAND head coach, Declan Kidney, has opted to give Chris Henry his first cap for Ireland when he lines out at No.8 in the team to play Australia in Brisbane this Saturday. O’Gara will take to the bench as the Cork man loses out to Sexton at 10, while Tony Buckley gets the nod in the front row.
Henry is one of four players including Paddy Wallace, Jonathan Sexton and back row Niall Ronan that are retained in the starting XV from Ireland’s last game against New Zealand Maori.
Rob Kearney, Tommy Bowe, Andrew Trimble, Tomas O’Leary and Captain Brian O’Driscoll also return to the backline to play Australia in Suncorp Stadium.
In the forwards, Mick O’Driscoll is named in the second row after recovering from a back injury to partner Donncha O’Callaghan. Cian Healy and Sean Cronin in the front row also return to the starting team. In the replacements, Rhys Ruddock and Damien Varley are the other uncapped players in the match 22.
Ireland XV:
15 – Robert Kearney (UCD/Leinster)
14 – Tommy Bowe (Ospreys)
13 – Brian O’Driscoll (UCD/Leinster) Captain
12 – Paddy Wallace (Ballymena/Ulster)
11 – Andrew Trimble (Ballymena/Ulster)
10 – Jonathan Sexton (St.Mary’s College/Leinster)
9 – Tomas O’Leary (Dolphin/Munster)
1 – Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster)
2 – Sean Cronin (Buccaneers/Connacht)
3 – Tony Buckley (Shannon/Munster)
4 – Donncha O’Callaghan (Cork Constitution/Munster)
5 – Mick O’Driscoll (Cork Constitution/Munster)
6 – Niall Ronan (Shannon/Munster)
7 – Shane Jennings (St.Mary’s College/Leinster)
8 – Chris Henry (Ballymena/Ulster)*
Replacements:
16 – Damien Varley (Garryowen/Munster)*
17 – Tom Court (Malone/Ulster)
18 – Dan Tuohy (Ballymena/Ulster)
19 – Rhys Ruddock (UCD/Leinster)*
20 – Eoin Reddan (Lansdowne/Leinster)
21 – Ronan O’Gara (Cork Constitution/Munster)
22 – Geordan Murphy (Leicester)
