Six Nations:Ireland number eight Jamie Heaslip has returned to the starting line-up for Sunday's pivotal meeting with France. Heaslip's inclusion sees his Leinster teammate Sean O'Brien move to the blindside flank with Denis Leamy the player to make way.
Shane Jennings drops out of the match-day 22 and could feature for Leinster against Aironi tomorrow night after being named among the replacements for the Magners League clash.
Heaslip has recovered from the bruised ankle he suffered against Clermont in the Heineken Cup in December and was passed fit by the Irish medical team. Having started back running last week, the 27-year-old was put through his paces during the full contact sessions both yesterday and today.
Sunday’s match comes too soon for Andrew Trimble, who continues to nurse a broken bone in his hand, while both Stephen Ferris and Tommy Bowe remain sidelined.
Despite and indifferent performance against Italy, where his sluggish service came in for heavy criticism, Tomás O’Leary retains his place in the starting line-up. And Ronan O’Gara, Ireland’s hero in Rome, must once again settle for a place on the bench.
The Irish scrum came under intense pressure at the Stadio Flaminio but Declan Kidney and his management team have resisted the temptation to make changes and keep faith with the frontrow triumvirate of Cian Healy, Rory Best and Mike Ross.
Coach Declan Kidney today empowered his Ireland team to take on France at their own game after giving a vote of confidence to the players who misfired in Rome.
Kidney wants any angst over the performance to be replaced by the realisation that only a bold approach will upstage the Grand Slam champions.
“I wasn’t satisfied with the way we played against Italy. We can play a lot better,” he said. “But the players performed in such a way that meant they deserved another go.
“Sometimes you need to back your players and after the way they went about their business, that’s what I’m doing.
.“These fellas are hugely self-critical and sometimes they just need to relax, trust themselves and go out and play. That’s what I’m hoping they’ll do on Sunday.”
The return of Heaslip will lift confidence, even if their outstanding performer of last autumn will be playing for the first time since December.
“Jamie’s a good player and brings his own skill set. That’ll give us variation in the team,” admitted Kidney.
“Jamie trained fully yesterday and trained fully today, so there was no need not to select him.
“He’s looking forward to it but there’s always a bit of trepidation coming back in if you haven’t been out in the middle playing week in week out.”
Brian O’Driscoll, who needs just one try to equal Ian Smith’s individual championship record of 24 a mark that has stood for 78 years, also delivered a measured response to last weekend’s drama.
“People know themselves when they’ve made mistakes. I know myself with the couple of errors I made,” he said. “They might be uncharacteristic, nonetheless they happened.
“So you work harder the next week and do more practice on the areas you feel might have let you down the previous week.
“Then the next time you put the jersey on this weekend you go about trying to put things right.”
France named their side yesterday with Marc Lievremont making just one injury enforced change. Maxime Mermoz, who dislocated a shoulder in their win over Scotland, has been ruled out with Damien Traille moving from fullback to centre and Clement Poitreneaud taking ownership of the number 15 jersey. Yannick Jauzion fills the vacancy on the replacements bench.
Ireland:L Fitzgerald (Leinster); F McFadden (Leinster), B O'Driscoll (Leinster, capt), G D'Arcy (Leinster), K Earls (Munster); J Sexton (Leinster), E Reddan (Leinster); C Healy (Leinster), R Best (Ulster), M Ross (Leinster), D O'Callaghan (Munster), P O'Connell (Munster), S O'Brien (Leinster), D Wallace (Munster), J Heaslip (Leinster). Replacements:S Cronin (Connacht), T Court (Ulster), L Cullen (Leinster), D Leamy (Munster), E Reddan (Leinster), R O'Gara (Munster), P Wallace (Ulster).
France:C Poitrenaud (Toulouse); Y Huget (Bayonne), A Rougerie (Clermont Auvergne), D Traille (Biarritz), M Medard (Toulouse); F Trinh-Duc (Montpellier), M Parra (Clermont Auvergne); T Domingo (Clermont Auvergne), W Servat (Toulouse), N Mas (Perpignan), J Pierre (Clermont Auvergne), L Nallet (Racing Metro), T Dusautoir (Toulouse, captain), J Bonnaire (Clermont Auvergne), I Harinordoquy (Biarritz). Replacements:G Guirado (Perpignan), L Ducalcon (Castres), J Thion (Biarritz), S Chabal (Racing Metro), D Yachvili (Biarritz), V Clerc (Toulouse), Y Jauzion (Toulouse).
