Declan Kidney has kept faith with his selection and made no changes for the visit of Italy to the Aviva Stadium, Dublin, on Saturday, 25 February, with kick-off: 13:30 and live on BBC One.
Italy coach Jacques Brunel however has made four changes for Saturday’s Six Nations match in Ireland. He has gone for fly-half Tobias Botes over Kristopher Burton who moves to the bench. Alberto Sgarbi replaces Gonzalo Canale in the centre and loosehead prop Michele Rizzo gets his first start, replacing Andrea Lo Cicero. While Lorenzo Cittadini replaces Martin Castrogiovanni, who will miss the rest of the tournament after picking up a fractured rib in the defeat by England. Aironi prop Fabio Staibano is in the squad for the first time since the summer of 2009.
Teams
Ireland: Rob Kearney (Leinster), Tommy Bowe (Ospreys), Keith Earls (Munster), Gordon D’Arcy (Leinster), Andrew Trimble (Ulster), Jonathan Sexton (Leinster), Conor Murray (Munster), Cian Healy (Leinster), Rory Best (Ulster), Mike Ross (Leinster), Donncha O’Callaghan (Munster), Paul O’Connell (Munster, capt), Stephen Ferris (Ulster), Sean O’Brien (Leinster), Jamie Heaslip (Leinster).
Replacements: Sean Cronin (Leinster), Tom Court (Ulster), Donnacha Ryan (Munster), Peter O’Mahony (Munster), Eoin Reddan (Leinster), Ronan O’Gara (Munster), Fergus McFadden (Leinster).
Italy: A Masi (Aironi Rugby), G Venditti (Aironi Rugby), T Benvenuti (Benetton Treviso), A Sgarbi (Benetton Treviso), L McLean (Benetton Treviso), T Botes (Benetton Treviso), E Gori (Benetton Treviso), M Rizzo (Benetton Treviso), L Ghiraldini (Benetton Treviso), L Cittadini (Benetton Treviso), Q Geldenhuys (Aironi Rugby), M Bortolami (Aironi Rugby), A Zanni (Benetton Treviso), R Barbieri (Benetton Treviso), S Parisse (Stade Francais, capt).
Replacements: T D’Apice (Aironi Rugby),F Staibano (Aironi Rugby), A Pavanello (Benetton Treviso), S Favaro (Aironi Rugby), F Semenzato (Benetton Treviso), K Burton (Benetton Treviso), G Canale (Clermont-Auvergne), A Lo Cicero (Racing-Metro Paris), G Toniolatti (Aironi Rugby).