Ireland likely to stick with same starting XV for Twickenham test

Whereas

England

have been denied the opportunity to stick with the same team in the opening three games of the

Six Nations

for the first time since

2000 due to Dan Cole being hors de combat, Ireland have every opportunity and incentive to stick with the same starting XV which impressively accounted for Wales.

"We keep an open mind each time," said defence coach Les Kiss at the squad's Carton House base yesterday but although Joe Schmidt has said he'd like to rotate the squad a little, the case for change is less than compelling.

“We know that some guys have taken their opportunities and done an exceptionally good job,” added Kiss, assuredly with the wingers Dave Kearney and Andrew Trimble in mind.

“We’re big on making sure we reward form in the group, but we have to be aware of the different challenges that are going to come up against England. . . it’s important to be able to give opportunity here and there, but it’s where you give it and why you give it that’s important.”

“The session was good today. Yesterday was good. We’ll have some final discussions around things. We’re not far from actually getting to know what we want to do . . . ”

FiveTest wingers were effectively ruled out at the start of the Six Nations, and of those Tommy Bowe would have had the most compelling case for being restored had he provided any evidence of his wellbeing.

Groin injury
Alas, Bowe's hopes of returning for Ulster away to Treviso on Sunday have been dashed due to the troublesome groin injury which has sidelined him since the three November Tests.

With only one more Pro12 game before Ireland’s penultimate Six Nations match at home to Italy, his hopes of having any involvement in the championship look forlorn.

However Simon Zebo doesn't fall into that category, having taken his tally to four tries in four comeback games with Munster courtesy of Saturday's double against Zebre, as well as a cameo off the bench for the Wolfhounds.

“Simon is playing well,” admitted Kiss. “He just needs to keep putting his hand up because we are very cognisant of the fact that he is improving and getting back into some form . . . we always keep an eye on him but the guys who have been in there have performed well and also Fergus (McFadden) has been good for us too so those guys have earned their stay.”

In addition to recalling Bath's David Wilson after his first 47 minutes of rugby since December last weekend instead of the less experienced understudy Henry Thomas, Stuart Lancaster is set to promote uncapped 20-year-old Bath outhalf George Ford to the bench for Brad Barritt in a bid to improve England's outhalf options.

With Iain Henderson, Donnacha Ryan and Mike McCarthy all vying for the place vacated by the unlucky Dan Tuohy, Eoin Reddan is also now fit again, while Isaac Boss has recovered from the mild concussion he suffered last Saturday.

Kiss, who confirmed that Brian O’Driscoll was the only player to sit out training yesterday. “He’s got a slight bug. He’s going to be fine for Thursday. Other than that everything else is a-okay.”

The Irish defence has limited their opponents to just nine points, keeping their try line intact and restricting Wales to two line breaks with a 94 per cent tackle success rate. "I'm happy with how it looks in terms of the outcomes," admitted Kiss before quickly adding: "There are some things to be wary of. England have a better balance to the game at this stage in terms of how they attack it and this will be their third game into it."

Field position
"We know that they can vary up their tactics," said Kiss, noting how they are more inclined to kick to touch than Wales and use their defensive line-out, as well as their maul, and also play field position through Owen Farrell.

Underpinning Ireland’s defensive system has been their accuracy and technique at the breakdown, “and staying out of the referee’s eye and giving him good pictures. But you know what it’s like in an away game,” added Kiss, “the home team does get the odd call, so we just need to be better this week.”