Ireland make five changes for Namibia game

Ireland have made five changes to their team to play Namibia on Sunday and may have to make a sixth after prop Reggie Corrigan…

Ireland have made five changes to their team to play Namibia on Sunday and may have to make a sixth after prop Reggie Corrigan injured himself at training today.

Corrigan was switched from tighthead to loosehead after John Hayes was included in the starting side but may be left out altogether after injuring his shoulder.

"Reggie fell quite hard at training this morning, which is why he sat out most of the session," said Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan. "If he is ruled out Marcus Horan will come into loosehead, with Simon Best moving to the bench."

O'Sullivan made four changes to the forwards and one to the backs from the side who overpowered Romania 45-17 in Gosford on Saturday.

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Hayes is promoted from the bench for Horan while O'Sullivan names an entirely new back row with Eric Miller, Alan Quinlan and Simon Easterby taking over from Anthony Foley, Keith Gleeson and Victor Costello.

The only change to the backline is the inclusion of Ronan O'Gara at outhalf for David Humphreys.

Ireland are expected to have few problems racking up a big win over the Namibians, who went down 67-14 to Argentina on Tuesday, before their two final pool games against the Pumas and Australia.

Ireland- 15-Girvan Dempsey; 14-Shane Horgan, 13-Brian O'Driscoll, 12-Kevin Maggs, 11-Denis Hickie; 10-Ronan O'Gara, 9-Peter Stringer; 8-Eric Miller, 7-Alan Quinlan, 6-Simon Easterby, 5-Paul O'Connell, 4-Malcolm O'Kelly, 3-John Hayes, 2-Keith Wood (captain), 1-Reggie Corrigan.Replacements: 16-Shane Byrne, 17-Marcus Horan, 18-Donnacha O'Callaghan, 19-Victor Costello, 20-Guy Easterby, 21-David Humphreys, 22-John Kelly.