So a really good win for England. A fully deserved one too, as they were the only side who really turned up today. Ireland won’t be too worried by the defeat as there are still five weeks to go before they play France, but they were very poor and, for the second match in a row, looked blunt in attack with their only option being to bludgeon away.
England win 21-13...they would have taken that before kick-off. Ireland, tho, were significantly below par...
— robert kitson (@robkitson) September 5, 2015
England will be most pleased with the performances of some players who have underwhelmed lately. Tom Wood, Jonny May, Courtney Lawes and Mike Brown ensured that they will be in the first XV for the big matches, while Chris Robshaw and Geoff Parling impressed too. They will be concerned about the scrum and Tom Youngs, despite his 100% lineout record, failed to convince with his throwing and was reliant on the jumpers’ excellence.
That’s all from me. Cheers for reading and for your emails. Sorry I couldn’t get them all in. Bye!
Full-time: England 21-13 Ireland
80 min Or not. England win the lineout on the 22 and Wigglesworth smacks it into the stands.
79 min Madigan gets smashed by Burgess and Wigglesworth hacks the loose ball out for May to chase. Reddan kicks to touch on the 22 and England have one last chance. Much better tackle from Burgess, that.
Penalty (Farrell 79) England 21-13 Ireland
That should be that.
Updated
77 min Ireland’s centres come off the back of the scrum, but hold on in the tackle and Farrell is going to have a go from wide on the right, 36 metres out.
“Are Ireland’s tactics just to kick the ball to England to practice defending counterattacks and knock on lots to get more scrum practice?” asks Carey Smith. There’s been a real lack of creativity from them again.
76 min Wood makes more good ground, but then Farrell, trying to offload to Burgess, throws it against the leg of Courtney Lawes instead. Scrum Ireland, eight metres or so outside their 22. This one’s a bit scrappy now.
75 min Farrell and Bowe exchange kicks, with a fan in the crowd fielding the latter’s effort beautifully and returning it with a decent kick too. England lineout on halfway and it’s taken at the front, before Burgess crashes over the gainline.
Penalty (Farrell 73) England 18-13 Ireland
From the 22, Farrell converts the penalty and puts England a try ahead.
72 min England go wide, but Brown’s pass to Watson is forward. It doesn’t matter though as O’Mahony has been penalised for side entry at the maul. Farrell, after being warned by Nigel Owens to let the officials make the decisions, will go for goal from 15m in, wide on the left.
71 min Nice work by Jonny May, who seizes on a loose ball and hacks ahead well, forcing Reddan to run it out on the 22. England win the lineout and go for the rolling maul...
Updated
70 min My mistake: Furlong, the prop, replaces Zebo, the full-back. This could be fun. Ireland find touch just outside their own 22 with the penalty, then win the lineout easily enough. Reddan sends a high one up and Brown carries back over halfway, before Vunipola gains another 10 metres with a mighty charge.
No try
Ah. It doesn’t matter, as two phases back Wood took the ball from in front of Robshaw. Furlong replaces McGrath.
Try? (Wigglesworth 69)
May steps brilliantly, burning off two men and cutting inside to get close to the line. They recycle and there’s a massive overlap, but Farrell throws a poor long pass and Brown has to check. They keep possession though and press towards the line; Wigglesworth has a snipe and we go to the TMO to see if Strauss got a hand under it.
68 min Dangerous this as Ireland turn it over just outside their own 22! Burgess makes half a break and England go through the phases, punching away at the Irish backline.
Updated
67 min Lovely chip ahead from Kearney over the 10 metre line and Cave gathers it. They recycle the ball right, but Joseph quite magnificently strips Payne of the ball and Englan kick it clear.
66 min Dave Kearney comes back on, for Sexton, with Madigan going to 10, while Donnacha also comes on. A better scrum from England forces Ireland back, but they keep it and spread the ball right, where Zebo carries over halfway. Back it goes and Madigan puts it high, but Watson takes under no pressure and returns the kick.
65 min This time it’s Wood who wins the lineout and England go right, but Launchbury spills it under pressure.
64 min England win it and Wigglesworth gives it to Burgess, who promptly runs into Sexton and drops it. Sexton’s clearance is good this time, finding touch inside the England half, though he still doesn’t look comfortable.
63 min Cole, who has had a tough day in the scrum but a decent one at the breakdown, is replaced by Kieran Brookes. Ireland’s scrum is good, but Sexton’s clearance is very bad as he slices badly into touch 10 metres from his own line. He has cramp too.
61 min England get a penalty on halfway and Farrell sticks it into the 22. George is on for Youngs and he finds Lawes at the back. Henry and Strauss are on for Ireland, O’Brien and Best off. England spin it right off the back of the maul and Burgess puts Farrell in after Brown ran a good line, but the offload was forward.
60 min Ford, Ben Youngs and Barrett off; Wigglesworth, Farell and Burgess on. For Ireland, Cave, White and Madigan come on for Payne, Ross and, I think, Kearney. Ireland take another scrum against the head...
59 min More good work from Robshaw, picking good angles around the fringes. Ford goes back in the pocket, but O’Connell steals it on the floor with Barrett taking his eye off it and Henshaw goes flying clear. Ah but then, under pressure from Lawes, the centre throws it forward.
58 min Billy Vunipola charges into the 22 before Ford jinks through! Stopped just short and they send it right, but Launchbury can’t get it away quickly enough for them to take advantage of the overlap. Still England have it though.
Updated
57 min England make a couple of changes, as Marler and Morgan go off to be replaced by the Vunipolas. Meanwhile England have possession in midfield, but Billy V throws a very loose pass and that does for momentum. Ford sends it high and Brown brilliantly beats Kearney to the ball!
56 min Joseph dances through half a gap, then Lawes and Wood charge up to within 10 metres when it goes left. Oh but then brilliant from Sexton, stripping the Saints flanker! Ireland clear to touch.
55 min Good work from Wood, getting the boot in and disrupting Eoin Reddan. Eventually it’s kicked long and claimed by Brown, who takes well but is left limping after he’s tackled. We play on and Wood carries brilliantly into the 22. England go right, but it’s a bit scrappy.
Conversion (Sexton 54) England 15-13 Ireland
Easy stuff from just to the left.
Try! (O'Connell 53) England 15-11 Ireland
Ireland win the lineout through the giant Toner. Heaslip peels off the back and charges. O’Connell follows up by driving the last couple of metres and stretching to place the ball on the line!
Updated
52 min Ireland go down the blindside and Henshaw chips ahead. Ford has to carry into his own in-goal area, but May is back to help him out and clear. Ireland lineout, five metres out.
51 min Robshaw chases the kick-off and absolutely smothers the catcher, to the point where I couldn’t see who that was. Reddan clears and England go through the hands, only for Heaslip to win the turnover on the floor.
Penalty (Sexton 50) England 15-6 Ireland
Eight metres out, under the posts. I’d have got that.
49 min Sexton goes on the loop then gives it to Payne, who goes wide to Kearney. He’s not got the pace to beat Watson though, so Ireland go right and get to the five metre line. Going through the phases now and England concede the penalty as both Wood and Marler are pinged for offside.
Updated
48 min Sexton restarts and O’Mahony claims it. Right it goes and Heaslip takes it into the 22 with a powerful diagonal carry. Right it goes, then back inside.
Penalty (Ford 48) England 15-3 Ireland
About 42 metres from the line and 12 in from the right touchline. And Ford also bounces it over off the bar! Remarkable!
46 min This is better from England as the scrum drives Ireland back towards their 10 metre line and wins the penalty. Ford is going to go for goal from the same spot that Sexton knocked on over off the bar from earlier.
45 min Ben Youngs clears well from the back of the maul, finding touch down the right on halfway. Launchbury comes on for Parling, who has been excellent in the lineout. Ireland win the lineout and it’s tapped down to Reddan, but the number nine takes his eye off it and knocks on.
44 min Reddan is caught well by Cole, but Ireland retain it and Heaslip, remarkably is dragged towards the touchline by Jonny May. The Gloucester man looks so much stronger now. Ireland have gone back about 15 metres, so they spread it and carry back up to the 22, where Barritt wins the turnover.
43 min Ireland lineout then, around 30 metres from the England line. Henshaw on the crash ball in midfield, but England are solid so far, no gaps for Ireland to exploit.
42 min England are really struggling here and Morgan does well at the base to recover it. Ford puts it up and May chases, but knocks it forward. Ireland play the advantage and Sexton chips through, but Brown turns and gathers well, clearing down the right.
Peep! Here we go again, Sexton kicking short and O’Connell knocks it forward. Payne gathers and charges forward, but we’re going back for the scrum.
And Lawrence Aggleton asks: “Good first half that, but worried about England’s scrum. What’s happened to it, never seen it be so poor against Ireland. Is it down to missing Hartley?”
I think he’s a big part of it. Marler isn’t playing as well as he was in the Six Nations either – they could really do with a fit Corbisiero.
Updated
Robin Hazlehurst writes: “Good half indeed. Jonny May showing the advantage of sticking with players here, how many times have people wanted him dropped in the past (myself included), now he’s really showing his worth. One for the chop-and-change brigade to note?
Really enjoyed the Kitson piece by the way. I hadn’t actually realised that Lancaster comes from less than two miles away from my own village. So many stereotypers forget that rugby (both codes) is big in the north. People make assumptions about where you come from if you’re an England fan, but Cumbria is a rugby county through and through. A shame the Twickers crowd have come to dominate the England image.”
I spend a lot of time up in Stockport. I think part of the reason union is less popular there is just how inaccessible Sale’s ground in Salford is. I went there last season to see the Munster match and it took me a good couple of hours.
Your thoughts:
England-Ireland. We're giving you lads a head start to make it even. @DanLucas86
— Pádraig Belton (@PadraigBelton) September 5, 2015
@DanLucas86 England looked like they ran a bit out of gas that last 10 minutes. They've put more men in the breakdown this half as well
— AndyinBrum (@AndyinBrum) September 5, 2015
I don’t know about ran out of steam, but Ireland are very dominant in the scrum. England could rue that missed try.
Good half that, for England. They can be pleased with the way they’re dictating the tempo, with Ben Youngs, Wood, May, Brown and Robshaw all really impressive. They’ll be a touch disappointed not to have that third try, perhaps trying to play with slightly too-quick hands.
Half-time: England 12-3
Solid scrum from Ireland and Henshaw flings it left to Kearney, who takes it on the bounce. Ireland scored from a scrum with the clock in the red before half-time against Wales and they’re crabbing forward here, keeping their discipline well. Again Payne gets it out to Kearney, but Watson closes him down well. Back inside it comes, but O’Brien knocks on.
40 min Right, then left from Ireland, who crab up towards halfway. England giving no quarter though, so Sexton dinks it over the top, but Brown gathers magnificently ahead of Heaslip. He stumbles and goes to ground, flipping the offload up to May, but the Gloucester man can’t hold on to it. Probably shouldn’t have done that last bit, Mike. Ireland scrum 25 metres out, marginally to the right of centre. Clock’s in the red...
39 min Good quick ball from the lineout and England go left to the impressive Brown, who grinds out a bit more ground. Right they go, but Cole knocks on on the Irish 10 metre line.
Updated
38 min Thrown over the top and Zebo clears with minimal fuss, gaining 40 metres for his side.
37 min O’Connell takes it at the front of the lineout, on his own 22 and Ireland maul it 22 metres upfield, before Reddan box kicks. England take it and fling the ball right for Watson, but May’s pass isn’t the best and it bounces. It goes back inside and Ireland turn them over, but England snatch it straight back. Youngs, just behind the Irish 10 metre line, spots the space in behind Irish defence and sends a wonderful kick into the corner and into touch.
36 min Ford kicks over the top, into the 22 and mercifully into touch.
35 min England go through the hands now and Watson goes flying down the left! He jinks back inside, beating Kearney, but when he’s tackled Ireland win the turnover. Right they go, running it back, but Morgan wins another turnover on the floor. Breathless stuff this.
34 min Knocked on by Ford and Ireland fling it right. Zebo though gets in on the knock-on game. A series of up-and-unders follow.
33 min Stolen by Parling five metres from his own line! Cleared, then Payne knocks on. England waste it though, as they work it out to Morgan and he kicks it away.
32 min Better lineout from England, but then Ford is taken man and ball by Dave Kearney and Ireland turn it over. It’s kicked over the top and Watson is forced to turn inside his own half, but then he loses it as Kearney again makes the tackle. England sweep it up and put hands in the ruck, giving away a penalty. Sexton goes to the corner...
31 min O’Brien taps the lineout down on halfway, straight to Cole. Youngs sends it up high for Bowe to catch, but May chases him down and drags his man into touch just outside the 22!
30 min What a scrum from Ireland! England are driven back off their own ball and the pack is getting to be a real concern. What isn’t a concern is their work at the breakdown though as they turn Ireland over and Brown clears.
Updated
29 min Ireland finally enjoying some possession, but, after going through the phases, Sexton’s pass to O’Brien is spilled forward 30 metres or so away from the England line.
28 min O’Mahony wins it and Ireland fling it left. Then right and Sexton kicks under pressure, but it’s rather aimless and Brown can clear. Sexton runs it back though, dummying and beating his man down the right touchline.
27 min Right, we’ll go back for the scrum to Ireland, on their own 22. It’s a good one for the men in green, as Tom Youngs stands up – shocker, I know – and Ireland get the penalty. Sexton kicks to touch on halfway.
No try
I did wonder at the time, but assumed they’d ignored it. The pass from Tom Youngs to May was miles forward.
Updated
Try? (May 25)
Lawes stretches and just manages to flap it down. Robshaw gathers and shows great strength going through half a gap at the edge of the ruck. England fling it left at pace and Ireland can’t keep up! Through the hands, out to May and he leaves scorched earth behind him as he goes over from the 22! The try is given but, with Ford lining up the kick, the TMO asks Owens to check the final pass...
Updated
24 min Ford puts this one into touch on the left, on Ireland’s 22. Good chance this for England.
23 min Catch, drive, pick, drive etc., but then Ireland knock it on. They play advantage, then Ireland go offside. Owens decides to punish the latter offence and England have a penalty just inside their own half.
22 min Brown, from the middle of the pitch on his own 10 metre line, smacks it into touch on the left dead on halfway. Murray’s replacement has been confirmed as permanent.
21 min Ball off the top after Heaslip takes and O’Brien takes it up the middle on the crash ball. We’re on the England 22 and it’s so slow. Reddan sends it high, but Brown takes it very well above his head and calls the mark.
20 min Good work from Youngs on the floor, disrupting Ireland’s ruck and slowing it down. Not so good a phase later though, as Lawes goes off his feet and Ireland get the penalty. Sexton finds touch on the left just outside the England 22.
19 min Steady scrum from Ireland and they run it out the 22, spreading it right and getting up to their own 10 metre line before Joseph stops Zebo.
18 min Good scrum and Ford dummies and goes through a gap! England are within 10 now. It goes left from Brown to Joseph, but May is off his wing and so there’s no overlap. Good tackling now from Ireland as they drive England back to the 22, form the maul and win the turnover as it’s held up. Parling returns for Launchbury.
17 min We’re restarting with an England scrum on the Irish 22, dead centre. I’m pretty sure this is the first of the match.
“When he went down he didn’t move. I don’t know if he was conscious or not but he didn’t move,” Owens tells the Irish medics. The good news is that Murray is up and able to walk off, but that was excellent refereeing. Reddan comes on.
16 min O’Connell taps down Sexton’s restart but only to Morgan. After an exchange of kicks, Brown shrugs off O’Mahony to carry it up to the 10 metre line. It goes right and Launchbury, then Marler carry it well, into the 22. But then at the next ruck Nigel Owens stops the game immediately as Murray is down and badly hurt...
Updated
15 min Ford pushes his kick from the right across the face of the posts and it remains 12-3.
Try! (Watson 14) England 12-3 Ireland
A blood replacement for England, with Launchbury on for Parling. Lawes takes it and England get the driving maul going. They’re within five and, with advantage, Ford goes for the cross kick. It’s Watson v Zebo and the England man wins it! He doesn’t seem to realise at first, but quickly enough spins and dots it down!
Updated
13 min Better now from England. Ford and Bowe exchange kicks, the former aimless, the latter well taken, before Morgan and Brown shift it left to May on the touchline. He burns off Payne but has no room, so grubbers ahead. Zebo slides it into touch inside his own 22.
12 min Quick ball off the lineout, but this is really unconvincing from England in that department. Ford kicks it away and Ireland carry back up over their own 10m line before Murray box kicks. England with it on their 10 metre line now.
11 min England go for the short lineout on the Irish 10m line. It’s thrown short to Ben Youngs, but England are driven back a good 20 metres in the tackle. Ford is forced to kick, but Zebo returns it well, finding touch inside the England half and chasing well to prevent the quick one.
Romain Poite, the touch judge, is down and receiving attention. While that happens, here’s Lawrence Aggleton again:
“Re: Cipriani, but that’s Slade’s role. Burgess is covering Barritt. Slade’s covering Joseph and utility. Not that it matters as England’s bench for big games will be Wigglesworth, Farrell and Goode.”
10 min Lovely little kick through from Youngs and his chase is good too. Zebo covers it and clears to touch on the Ireland right, but this is a good position for England now.
9 min Ford kicks down the middle again and England put pressure on Ireland’s ruck. Murray clears long, but it’s slow and England have it up on halfway.
Penalty (Sexton 8) England 7-3 Ireland
This is a very, very tough kick. It’s a beauty from Sexton though, dropping and bouncing off the bar on its way over.
7 min May takes Bowe out in the air, chasing it. He pulled out of the challenge, so there’s no card, but it means that Sexton is going to have his first shot at goal from the England 10m line, wide on the right.
6 min Ireland get their hands on the ball, as Best throws to the front where O’Connell takes. They rumble up over halfway and Murray sends it up high with the box kick, but May is solid underneath it outside his 22. It’s taken back in so Youngs box kicks himself.
5 min Sexton restarts with a deep kick and Ford returns with interest, finding touch on the left.
Try! (May 3 + Ford conversion) England 7-0 Ireland
3 min This is a good high tempo start from England. Watson steps a bit but is tackled on the right. Barritt crashes it up on the left. Lawes and Wood do the same then it’s flipped over the top to May by Ben Youngs, who shows surprising strength to burst through Zebo’s and Bowe’s tackles and go over in the corner from 10 metres! What a finish! Ford converts from the touchline to boot.
Updated
2 min It’s not convincing but Parling wins the lineout and England spin it left to Brown. He gets up to the 22 and, after it’s worked inside and out, May makes inroads. Right again and Joseph takes it forward, but they’re standing deep and not gaining a huge amount of ground.
Peep! Nigel Owens blows his whistle and Ford kicks off, down the centre to Zebo. It’s recycled a couple of times, flipped back to Zebo by Murray and the full-back for the day clears left-footed 30m upfield.
Here we go...
The national anthems are always an excellent time to appreciate quite now enormous Devin Toner actually is. pic.twitter.com/Yyak9KCs2Y
— Julian Bennetts (@julian_bennetts) September 5, 2015
This is a good shout from Giles Hardingham:
“Re squad selection-in a fantasy world would be nice to see England’s final world cup game against those who did not make it for whatever reason. I reckon this lot would give them a run for their money”
1. Alex Corbisiero2. Dylan Hartley3. Henry Thomas4. Dave Attwood5. Matt Garvey6. Tom Croft7. Steffon Armitage8 Tom Waldrom9. Lee Dickson10. Danny Cipriani11. Marland Yarde12. Manu Tuilagi13. Luther Burrell14. Christian Wade15 Nick Abendanon”
A good team that. Any bench suggestions? Off the top of my head you can stick Cowan-Dickie, Easter, Simpson, Myler and Eastmond on there.
Some music for the five minutes before kick-off. You know, in case anthems aren’t your thing.
Some thoughts from Lawrence Aggleton:
“I think your Green, Black and Gold glasses are on a bit much with Burrell, who did nothing in Paris and has had a very poor season for England and Saints. He’s not a bad player, he’s just not a threat at international level. He (and Twelvetrees) have only their own flaws to blame for Burgess’ selection.
Cipriani has nothing to do with Burgess, he’s 3rd choice 10 and we can’t afford three in the squad.”
I agree Burrell’s defence has gone backwards. He had a tackle success rate of around 70% last season, I think. Cipriani can be used as a utility back off the bench as he was in Paris.
Prediction time:
@DanLucas86 Eng may surprise Ireland 4 a bit but with that XV Joe S has put out we should have enough to win by a few kicks of Jonny's boot
— John McEnerney (@MackerOnTheMed) September 5, 2015
I reckon it’ll be tighter than that, but I’m agreeing that Sexton’s boot will win it for Ireland. England’s best chance is stopping Ireland’s lineout: Courtney Lawes was brilliant at doing that when England won here in the Six Nations last year and he was missing during the corresponding match earlier this year, which Ireland won 19-9.
Send me your thoughts! Not necessarily on the game, but on the squad selections too. Should Burrell or Cipriani be in ahead of Slammin’ Sam “never done a thing at inside centre, tackles too high, is slow on the turn and vulnerable to the chip over the top and is in the squad on name alone” Burgess? (Yep). Is Slade a far better player than Barritt? Is Ben Morgan lucky to be there after injury ahead of Easter? What’s the point of Richard Wigglesworth when Lee Dickson has been sent back to Northampton?
An email! “Nice bit of OBO’ing Mr. Lucas,” writes Brendan Large, who saw me gloriously take the key wicket of Steve Smith. “Save a bit of that magic dust for England rugby team too please.”
A pleasure. I’ll take all credit for Tom Youngs actually managing to not give away a penalty for standing up in a scrum.
Back in a jiffy, just going to OBO for a few.
Not to make this all about me, but I was very excited to get this earlier in the week:
I met David Campese and Zinzan Brooke, too. But meeting Geech made my day.
Preamble
Afternoon, folks. This is it then, the last chance for these two teams to get everything rosy and perfect before IT starts.
This is, as I probably don’t need to tell you, the final warm-up match for both of these teams before the whole World Cup thing gets underway in a little under two weeks’ time.
The sense is that Ireland, despite a disappointing defeat to Wales last weekend, are in slightly better shape than their hosts right now. Saturday’s match was one of the most full-blooded, physical friendlies you’ll ever see and Ireland, despite the loss, played OK against a monstrous Welsh defence. The lack of creativity might be a slight concern, but their biggest issue today is going to be getting through with no further injuries.
If Ireland can win at Twickenham then don’t be surprised to see them in the final come mid-October. They are favourites to top their pool and that would give them a favourable run to the semis, where there is every chance they could meet England. As Rob Kitson mentions in this wonderful piece (I implore you, take the time to give it a read), there is little love lost between the two sets of fans; it would be a mighty fired-up and mighty confident Ireland that would take the field in that scenario.
For England the signs are more worrying. Rob Andrew and Lewis Moody have both said this week that this England team is not yet at its best. Brad Barritt and Jonathan Joseph are likely to be their first-choice centre pairing and they have all of 14 minutes’ game time together before today. The lineout is a worry too.
Geoff Parling, the lineout captain on whom so many hopes rest on account of his familiarity with Youngs from Leicester says that there is nothing to worry about. That you don’t become a bad lineout unit overnight. In a way he’s right, but in another, more accurate way, he’s wrong. Tom Youngs, for all his worth as a ball carrier, is a terrible hooker in the set piece. For a couple of years now England’s lineout has gone from the most reliable in the game to a complete mess as soon as he’s taken to the field. Call me old fashioned, but I always thought a functioning lineout was important; you could argue that the England player to have come out of these warm-ups best is Dylan Hartley.
Still, let’s not write England off just yet. They showed hints of what they can do in the late comeback against France in Paris (largely thanks to the performances of, er, Luther Burrell and Danny Cipriani) and the whole Twickenham thing is a huge factor. Stuart Lancaster has been criticised for leaving questions unanswered so late, but then the flip side of that is that we don’t know what this England team can do yet, which makes them exciting.
Kick-off is at 2.30pm BST. Pah, BST. Let’s do this, one more time.
Oh and your teams are:
England
Mike Brown (Harlequins); Anthony Watson (Bath Rugby), Jonathan Joseph (Bath Rugby), Brad Barritt (Saracens), Jonny May (Gloucester Rugby); George Ford (Bath Rugby), Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers); Joe Marler (Harlequins), Tom Youngs (Leicester Tigers), Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers), Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints), Geoff Parling, Tom Wood (Northampton Saints), Chris Robshaw (capt, Harlequins), Ben Morgan (Gloucester Rugby).
Replacements: Jamie George (Saracens), Mako Vunipola (Saracens), Kieran Brookes (Northampton Saints), Joe Launchbury (Wasps), Billy Vunipola (Saracens), Richard Wigglesworth (Saracens), Owen Farrell (Saracens), Sam Burgess (Bath Rugby).
Ireland
Simon Zebo (Munster); Tommy Bowe (Ulster), Jared Payne (Ulster), Robbie Henshaw (Connacht), Dave Kearney (Leinster); Johnny Sexton (Leinster), Conor Murray (Munster); Jack McGrath (Leinster), Rory Best (Ulster), Mike Ross (Leinster); Devin Toner (Leinster), Paul O’Connell (Munster) capt; Peter O’Mahony (Munster), Sean O’Brien (Leinster), Jamie Heaslip (Leinster).
Replacements: Richardt Strauss (Leinster), Tadhg Furlong (Leinster), Nathan White (Connacht), Donnacha Ryan (Munster), Chris Henry (Ulster), Eoin Reddan (Leinster), Ian Madigan (Leinster), Darren Cave (Ulster).
